To think that the landlord of the pub in Soho was within his rights to ask the couple to leave?

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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13103647

We've all seen the story. It seems to me that it's completely blown out of all proportion in exactly the same way that the couple with the B&B did not want gay couples staying under their roof.

If you were sat in a pub/restaurant and a heterosexual couple started getting steamed up, kissing passionately, hands all over each other, you'd be like 'Get a room' or 'take it outside'. I personally would move to another seat, I don't want to see it, straight or gay.

I think you should be allowed to ask people to move/leave for whatever reason if there is no prejudice and think this is another classic example of bleeding heart lefties using tactics to make the majority feel like the minority.

AIBU?

I can bet my bank account on the fact that no legal action will happen because the Landlord didn't break the law. Mnetters, homosexuals and people in the pub might not like it, but if it stands up to the law it doesn't really matter.

LOTM, you have yet to explain how the landlord was not breaking the law. You seem to be unaware of what the law is.

There are anti discrimination laws in force in this country. It is illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexuality, race, gender and disability. Security personel and landlords are not above the law. (no matter how much some of them like to think they are)

LOTM, am I right in saying that you're a devout Christian and think homosexuality is wrong to start with?

Do bog off back to your knuckle-dragging mates

LordoftheManor

According to the Guardian:

The case is intriguing legally. The Licensing Act 2003 gives a landlord the right to eject customers. But the Equality Act 2010 says everyone must be treated equally in the provision of goods and services. For a successful defence against any legal action under the act, the landlord would have to prove he had ejected heterosexual couples for similiarly overt displays of intimacy.

Hmmm;

"The pub?s reaction so far has been less than helpful by refusing to comment to journalists or issuing pithy comments like ?I have every right to kick people out if I wish.? ". This is correct.

Could he call an indecent behaviour type call? The report I read (not the Beeb one here) didn't say the Landlord said they were being obscene that is what one of the couple removed had said. I still bet that nothing will come of it. If I was out having a drink and two people were eating eachother's heads next to me I'd be inclined to either leave or expect them to move somewhere else...and if anyone dead the Landlord could sue for loss of earnings .

If you removed the homosexuality from this story then the landlord is not being unreasonable...just people get too caught up with PC and "rights"

Even- He can't prove that though....obscenity can relate to a number of things. If the bar was in SoHo then I imagine they weren't his only homosexual customers.

LOTM, you can't remove homosexuality from this story, as it is the crux of the issue...

If you remove the homosexuality from the story they wouldn't have been kicked out!

Well if they were "kicked out" from OTT displays of public affection and they were heteros would it make a difference? I've seen people kicked out of bars getting "too steamy" and they've been hetero couples-neither journos nor reporters funnily enough.

LOTM, if a pub owner removed heterosexual couples from his premises for kissing, but allowed homosexual couples to kiss on his premises, then he would be breaking the law.

The Equality act covers people of all sexual orientations.

ANd landlords do not have a right to kick people out of pubs for a reason that is not consistent with the Equality Act. If you are going to keep on maintaining that this is not the case, you need to provide evidence of a law brought in since the Equality Act that overturns it.

LOTM, am I right in thinking you are of North African origin?
I only ask because when I was a student, a couple of Moroccan friends were thrown out of a pub for being perverts, because they were hugging and sitting with their arms round each other. Both straight but good friends, not used to the homophobic culture.
As a student body, we protested and the pub owners (a chain) apologised.
I think whether they are journalists is not relevant to the case.
Whether they were behaving inappropriately in a public place is the only issue, and that should be judged regardless of the gender of the individuals concerned.

This could very well be a smokescreen. There could have been any number of reasons why they were asked to leave. I have been in many pubs in SoHo, including that one, and public displays of affection are not objected to, no matter who is kissing who. The vast majority of people in that area are gay.

Why are people asking what LOTM is?

MillyR- How do you know he didn't ask ALL couples who were behaving how he saw inappropriately to leave the premises? Perhaps it's just these 2 who made a fuss.

yes Goblin, I am and it's normal for men to link arms etc in North Africa where homophobic attitudes are high in the general consensus.

The pub is apparently not a 'gay' pub, and I'll take the word of the straight couple, who were kicked out for defending the gay couple, when they say it was just snogging. If the pub has kicked out straight couples for PDAs or thought that the gay couple were being lewd or crossing the line why didn't they say so?

Pinot it's like a game;

Are you a Christian?

Do you agree with gays?

Are you Arabic?

A bit like guess who I think...

LOTM the pub is in Broadwick St, London - the very heart of media land. Hence many, many of the clientele are some kind of journo. Funnily enough.

If all (ie gays or straight) were treated the same, and kicked out for each and every snog, there would be no story. This IS a story as there seems to be clear evidence of discrimination. The gay couple were treated in a way that hetero couples were not.

PS I was asking what LOTM 'is' as I do not agree with her views; I find (what I percieve to be) her anti-gay stance to be abhorrent. I am trying to further understand her position. If I am mistaken, or wrong on this stance I would of course apologise.

I thought the public response to the information they had was fantastic.

'The John Snow pub and Samuel Smith's brewery, which owns the central London venue, have not commented on the alleged incident.'

So until they decide what they are going to say about it, the circumstances will remain unclear. If they chose to say nothing, others will draw their own conclusions.

I have done MUCH more offensive stuff than they did in that very pub

Am falling about at the thought of any pub in Soho ejecting a gay couple for kissing. It's Soho FFS.

If this is as straightforward as it seems, then Sam Smith's (the pub chain) are in deep shit. I suspect a (now ex) employee has made a very bad decision.

C'mon LOTR, nail your colours to the mast. I think I recall you referencing your Christian beliefs on other posts. I am of course not saying that all Christians are homophobes, by ANY means.

OK Hazel I didn't realise.

Oops, LOTM not LOTR !!