Religious Gay Discrimination

A Christian B&B owner has been told to pay £ 3,600 in damages to a gay couple who were refused a double bed.

Susanne Wilkinson said she was trying to uphold her beliefs about marriage at the Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Cookham, Berkshire.

At a court hearing this week, the judge accepted the sincerity of her Christian beliefs and that she had also refused to allow unmarried heterosexual couples from sharing a double bed.

However, the judge ruled that the policy broke equality laws by discriminating against Michael Black and John Morgan. She was ordered to pay damages on the grounds of hurt feelings to the couple.

Wilkinson's legal defence was paid for by The Christian Institute. Spokesman Mike Judge said, rather admitting that such discrimination is against the law:

Yes, Mrs Wilkinson's B&B is a business, but it's also a family home. The law should be more flexible in allowing people to live according to their own values under the own roof.

A bit more balance is needed, rather than allowing one set of rights to automatically suppress another.

Stonewall today welcomed a decision by the Court of Appeal to uphold a landmark court ruling in favour of a couple refused a hotel room by the owners of a hotel in Cornwall.

Civil Partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy had been turned away from the Chymorvah Hotel near Penzance in 2010 by owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull. In January 2011 a judge at Bristol County Court ruled that the Bulls' behaviour amounted to direct discrimination, and awarded a total of £ 3,600 damages to Mr Hall and Mr Preddy.

Ben Summerskill, Stonewall Chief Executive, said: We're delighted that the Court upheld the judgment. The Court's decision vindicates Stonewall's hard lobbying to make it illegal to deny goods or services to someone just because they happen to be gay. That obviously includes hotel rooms for many gay holidaymakers, which can only be a good thing in a Jubilee year. I hope Mr and Mrs Bull will now feel content to go home to do God's good work as Easter approaches, instead of relentlessly pursuing a happy couple through the courts.

George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has slammed the government for refusing to support a group of Christians fighting for what they perceive as their right to continue discriminating against gays.

Four individuals who have been disciplined at work or lost their jobs after refusing to remove crosses or to conform to gay rights laws are attempting to overturn the decisions of British courts and tribunal via a legal case at the European Court of Human Rights.

They had hoped for support from Ministers after a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, appealed to Prime Minister David Cameron on their behalf.

But the Government told the European Court of Human Rights that it backed the British judges and does not accept that the Christians have themselves suffered religious discrimination in being sacked for discriminating against gays.

To the dismay of Lord Carey, the Government even said that wearing a cross or a crucifix was not a generally recognised Christian practice. Lord Carey said:

I am very disappointed for the individuals concerned who have simply followed their conscience. Such is the result of a liberal establishment that has become deeply illiberal.

Christian lawyers claim the rights of the four to express their anti-gay beliefs at work should be protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, which allows individuals to manifest their faith in public.

But the Government, in 40 pages of legal arguments drawn up by the Foreign Office, said they were not protected because neither wearing a cross nor following their conscience at work was a core requirement of their faith. The Government said: The UK is entitled to conclude . . . that other than in limited prescribed circumstances, religious belief does not justify discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation.

Sorry our rooms are only for couples in a properly consummated marriage

Enter the Chymorvah Private Hotel in Marazion, near Penzance, and in the bedrooms you will find open Bibles and Christian leaflets.

Here at Chymorvah you will be met by a friendly welcome. Besides excellent food in plenty and comfortable beds, you will find a warm hospitality and much happiness, mingled with good service.

But only if you are heterosexual and married.

And this, according to that bastion of paranoia, the Christian Legal Centre, has landed them deep in the soft and smelly, for they are now facing a discrimination claim brought by a gay couple who were refused a double bed.

Martyn Hall and his civil partner, Steven Preddy, from Bristol, have lodged a claim for damages, alleging sexual orientation discrimination. The couple are claiming that the refusal to allow them to share a bed was: Direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

They are relying on Equality Act regulations and are claiming up to £5,000 in damages against the hotel owners, who are now facing a civil action at Bristol County Court this coming Monday.

The Christian Institute, which is assisting the Christian couple, is outraged, and has issued a statement saying: This case is about liberty of conscience. This guesthouse is Mr and Mrs Bull's own home. They have rights too, and they should not be forced to act against their sincerely held religious beliefs under their own roof. This Christian couple are being put on trial for their beliefs. Equality laws are being used as a sword rather than a shield.

A judgement on the case will be made after Christmas.