Cay Couple Refused a B&B Bed

[flip_flop]

I read over the weekend that the B&B owners who refused to allow a gay couple to stay have received over 10,000 abusive and threatening phone calls and emails.

Ironic, isn't it, that they have been the subject of this amount of intolerance?

I personally feel the B&B owners were in the wrong, not for their beliefs (which they perfectly entitled to hold), but because they unlawfully discrimanted aganist the gay couple - but even so, has their discrimination warranted the level of abuse, threats of violence and intolerance they have received?

[evedawn]

ps Den i meant you were right in drawing a comparison with mass murderers...and therefore agreeing that sexual preferance is not a crime.

[smart1]

I think if you run a business (I have done) you have the 'right to refuse' - but if making a profit, everything is 'business' right? If you're in business, you don't turn profit away, no matter what your personal views are.

[society]

I agree with you Smart1.

[DEN53]

smart- that was exactly the point I was making - there could be loads of guests they may not like the look of, for one reason or another, but if they turned them away, I can't see them having much of a business.

evedawn - I was wondering how it got into the national newspapers - surely the B & B owners could'nt have wanted that publicity.

[sp1814]

evedawn

Not saying that the couple aren't entitled to their views. It would be a pretty boring world if everyone thought the same.

However, that's not what this story is about.

They are perfectly at liberty to have whatever views they so wish, but if those views lead to them making business decisions which discriminate against certain members of the public, then they can be prosecuted for those actions.

It's not the holding of the views which is against the law...it's acting upon them.

[Quinlad]

It's sad that we need laws like this though.

Really, you should be able to trust market forces to punish them. Ideally, people would realise that they're bigoted and spurn them in favour of another B&B, so that they'd realise discrimination harms their bottom line and adjust their condust accordingly.

[ummmm]

But I'm sure there are like minded people out there...!!

[Everhelpful]

You are dead right,docspock,I would be exactly the same.maybe it's because we are older and wiser.

[society]

It takes all kinds of people to make up this world.

[jackthehat]

Doc - I understand your position on this, however, there is nothing to suggest that this gay couple were anything more than two middle-aged men who simply wanted a room to sleep in after they had attended a function/dinner of some sort nearby.
I doubt if they wold have spent the evening 'fondling' each other in the guests' lounge area (should here have been one)...........

[sp1814]

I note that the same queasiness over to men 'being intimate' isn't extended to two women.

A quick glance at any issue of FHM, GQ, Zoo or Nuts seems to confirm this.

One of life's little mysteries eh?

[alavahalf]

FHM, GQ, Zoo or Nuts........do you have all these too hand SP..?

[sp1814]

docspock

These are, to varying degrees, semi-pornographic magazines for the 'lad about town'.

They're the straight male version of Heat magazine.

[sp1814]

alavahalf

Unfortunately not. I used to subscribe to FHM many years ago, as it used to be very, very funny. As with Viz magazine, I simply grew out of it.

[mollykins]

It was on my local news and my friend was disgusted by it.