Religion as the hater's shield
Apr. 5th, 2010 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrishansenhomeThere has been a minor kerfuffle lately here over the refusal of a Berkshire bed and breakfast owner to allow a gay couple to stay there. The Conservative shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, says that he believes that B&B owners using their own homes as business premises who have religious objections to homosexuality should be allowed to refuse accommodation to same sex couples. Of course, he does not believe this should extend to those premises such as hotels or larger B&Bs which are not mostly private homes. The difficulty is that refusing accommodation to same-sex couples is against the law in the United Kingdom. Grayling voted for this law when it was passed. There is no clause that would allow any hotel or B&B owner to refuse accommodation to same-sex couples on the grounds of religion.
My only comment is that I would have a bit more sympathy for the Christian B&B owners if they required a marriage certificate for any mixed-sex couple who booked accommodation there. As they do not so require, they have no leg to stand on and should be prosecuted for discrimination.
As no B&B could continue in business if they required proof of marriage before accommodating a mixed-sex couple—who carries their marriage certificate with them when travelling?—this will not stand and business owners who discriminate against lesbians and gay men will be prosecuted.
In this season of Easter, where the Christian message is that even God himself could suffer and die for our salvation, haters cannot use religion as a bullet-proof vest.
My only comment is that I would have a bit more sympathy for the Christian B&B owners if they required a marriage certificate for any mixed-sex couple who booked accommodation there. As they do not so require, they have no leg to stand on and should be prosecuted for discrimination.
As no B&B could continue in business if they required proof of marriage before accommodating a mixed-sex couple—who carries their marriage certificate with them when travelling?—this will not stand and business owners who discriminate against lesbians and gay men will be prosecuted.
In this season of Easter, where the Christian message is that even God himself could suffer and die for our salvation, haters cannot use religion as a bullet-proof vest.
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Re: my object all sublime
Date: 2010-04-06 07:51 am (UTC)I would sentence him to a week's stay in a hotel which is simultaneously hosting an Amway convention. It happened to me in the 1980's when New York Mensa had its yearly convention in the same hotel as an Amway and when we were stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes, half Mensans and half Amwayans, that has in my mind been the model of what hell was like.