to think you shouldn't have to accommodate gay / unmarried couples?

[moogstera1]

Re. the b and b owners who have been fined for refusing to allow a gay couple to share a room.
From what I can gather, they are committed Christians who do not allow hetero or homosexual unmarried couples to share a room.
The gay couple deliberatly chose this B and B as they knew they would be refused a shared room and wanted to make a legal point.
They were offered 2 seperate rooms but refused.
So, despite personally not being at all religious and not caring if someone wants to share their bed with whoever they choose, AIBU to think that in their own home, they can choose to uphold their values ( which seem to be consistent as regards no unmarried couples.)

They provide a service to the public it is not for them to pick and choose a section of the public they want to provide this service too

They should not have a business in the service industry or run a business that does not conflict with their beliefs quite simple

Apparently the B and B advertised itself as a Christian ethos home which welcomed married couples, and the gay couple in question said shortly after the original prosecution that they had chosen it specifically for that reason to test it out.
Everyone's ignoring my Mormon/ Muslim / other religion question.

Well, I'm a Christian, but of the 'not having a problem with gay people" type.

I do think that Christians (and all other religous people) should make life choices that suit their religious morals (so for instance, I wouldn't work for companies involved in the sex industry even in an office job capacity, I wouldn't work for a multinational that used sweat shops etc) - so if they hold the view that they don't want unmarried couples to share a bed in their home, they shoudn't chose to make their money via running a B&B in their own home. They should make the financial sacrifice for their faith, not expect other people to make the sacrifice for their views.

I didn't ignore your question, I answered it

I think if you feel that strongly about what people get up to behind closed doors then running a B & B is probably not the best line of work to be in.

Having said that, I think the award of £3,600 damages to the gay couple for 'hurt feelings' is absolutely bloody ridiculous.

You can't run a business and expect your personal beliefs to override discrimination laws.
And getting into 'well what if it was another religion' arguments is just shitfudgery.
Surely pointing at another religion and saying 'well they are more bigoted than Christians' is hardly an advert for Christianity.

I completely disagree with any discrimination and religion can cause a lot of it. What I will say though is they do have very strong views obviously, they are 'brainwashed' by their religion and REALLY believe that bad things will happen to them when they die if they don't obey their religion. If I thought I would be spending eternity in a burning pit of fire for doing something that doesn't sit well with 'god' then I may end up being a bit discriminating.

So as much as I agree with all of you that it's out of order etc... just try and think about where their ethos has come from and however stupid it is for them to believe it, they actually think they will be punished. Christianity can be quite scary for some people if they take it all too literally...

YABU. Business law still applies to them like anyone else.

Christians are supposed to decline to judge others. And if they did reject people on the basis of "sin" then they'd have no customers whatsoever, because we all fail to live up to perfection.

There's absolutely no reason to pick on homosexuality any more than anything else they might deem "sinful". Why not also reject people who are impatient, or hypocritial, greedy, dishonest, selfishly ambitious, judgemental, gossips, look to false idols such as wealth or power, unloving towards their neighbour, impatient, conceited, proud, drink too much, are lazy, don't pray enough, or are envious of others?

sorry, addressing your other point, if your faith doesn't fit with holding a particular job (which in this case, involves running a B&B within the bounds of English law which means you can't discriminate against gay people) then you shouldn't chose to do that job - my view would be the same for a Muslim or Mormon couple - they should only pick work that fits their faith. obviously, running a B&B legally doesn't fit theirs. (And as a Christian, I think they are wrong, but not getting into that debate here.)

In answer to your other question, no I don't think any faith (or none) is an excuse to discriminate.

Just stop obsessively thinking about what your guests might or might not be doing in the room that they have paid for, unless you have good reason to believe that they're swinging from the light fittings or otherwise causing damage to your property.

Sackgirl

I completely agree with people's right to follow their own religion. I believe people hve a genuine fith nd I respect that.
I respect it right up to the point where it impacts upon others.

As I said, I have no religious leanings whatsoever and as long as people are staying ( mostly) on the right side of the law couldn't care less what they get up to; I just think they are being made scapegoats for their obviously strongly held beliefs.
Is there then a case for sueing people who don't allow children in their hotels? Is that not simply their views of not liking children on their premises discriminatory against families with kids?

what about hotels that wont except children or will not take under a certain age,is there a case there

Anybody selling anything in this country (in this case a bed for the night) has no right to discriminate over who comes along and buys it.

That covers everyone - Muslims, Gays, Christians, Lesbians, Morman, Black people, Chinese people, Buddhists, 7th day hoppists, Worshipers of the stripey sock - everyone!

x post with op sorry

But it wouldn't have impacted on the gay couple if they hadn't deliberately sought out a strongly Christian B and B.

Moogstera, if I was a misogynist who ran a chemist, would you be fine with me refusing to serve women in my shop?

There is a certain irony in Christians shunting people from B&Bs, considering their whole religion was started by someone who wasn't welcome in the local hotels.

Apart from that, I thought we'd moved on from businesses having signs outside the window saying 'no Jews', 'no blacks' or 'no gays'. I'm glad the judge agrees.

I don't see how it really impacted upon them, they went there seeking refusal to a double room... I just feel sorry for strict christians, its a religion based on fear, I would hate to believe all of that so rigidly... Just imagine for one moment honestly believing you were going to be sent to a burning hell... I just think if you could put yourself in their shoes you'd realise it's not a choice they believe in that, it's imbedded in their head.

I don't like debates about christianity, so I would specifically avoid that B&B, they just went there to discriminate against a religion.

Would it make any difference if they'd chosen the B&B at random moogstera1?

moog where exactly are you getting that they deliberately chose a Christian B & B from?

They have a business they can't turn away business on the fact they don't agree with gay or unmarried couples they can open a christian B n B and say married people only if they wanted but they didn't do that,

But children and babies are not a race or religion. If you're wishing to provide a tranquil environment for you customers then it's adults only.

Are we going to say adult only hotels are ageist FGS? So that some establishments can be allowed to discriminate against race and colour?

Thekids, i don't think age discrimination applies to under 16s

Guessing they sought the band b out as they knew it was wrong and wanted to highlight it. Good for them