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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not feel very sorry for these arseholes?

111 replies

lagertops · 19/09/2013 17:44

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2424983/Christian-B-B-owners-refused-gay-couple-close-business.html

Sorry to link the DM, but I'm just so mad after reading this article, especially the 'Best rated' comments.

I wouldn't wish death threats on anyone, but I really feel that if you're going to bring your religion into your (hospitality) livelihood and alienate customers, then duh! It's not very good for business!

'Shivering and hungry.' Do me a favour.

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 19/09/2013 17:50

Could you post the highlights? I won't clink the DM.

FlapJackFlossie · 19/09/2013 17:53

They made it quite clear on their website that they "only cater for married couples in one room" (whether heterosexual or gay)........QUITE CLEAR.

The gay couple did not have to go after them and hound them in the way they did. They should just have gracefully gone somewhere else to spend the night. They read the website then deliberately went after them. Shameful.

Onesleeptillwembley · 19/09/2013 17:55

Bigotry is bigotry, however you dress it up. Linking it to a mythical being does not lessen it. Therefore I have absolutely no sympathy for these bigots.

AlannaPartridge · 19/09/2013 18:00

Don't care what it says on their website, FlapJack - they refused point blank to allow gay couples to stay. It's ridiculous to suggest it was all about whether they were married or not since gay marriage did not exist at the time (does now!) meaning no gay couple could stay under any circumstances.

They broke the law shamelessly & unapologetically & the gay couple "went after them" for this reason - and they won. Good.

lagertops · 19/09/2013 18:02

Basically, a married Christian couple have apparently had to put their B&B up for sale as they refused to let a gay couple stay there a while back.
The gay couple fought back, and were awarded £3,600 because of the Equality act.
They are posing in the paper for sympathy, as the legal bills from their court case against the gay couple meant that they were 'hungry and shivering' last winter and had to sell their £750,000 B&B. The wife described the selling of the B&B like a 'death in the family.' Hmm

The couple were also experiencing death threats and porn uploaded onto their site, which obviously, I don't agree with.

The 'Best Rated' comments were as follows- 'I hope those to men are pleased with the misery they have caused this elderly couple. It's a disgrace and wrong on all counts.'

'Always the same in Britain now ,minorities rule.'

'Such a shame. I'd stay there if I went to Cornwall to offer moral support. The gay lobby, aided by liberals like Cam the Sham, are intent on destroying the social frabric of our society. It's inverse discrimination of a couple who at least hold values while society has lost most of its own. Shame on the High Court!'

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 19/09/2013 18:04

People, I feel, get really confused about this kind of stuff. I can be a racist, homophobic, bigoted arsehole in the comfort of my own home. When I open a business and have contracts with other human beings, I am subject to the law of the land. I can refuse to accommodate people in my own house, while they are not paying because my beliefs are those. I cannot refuse to supply goods and services based on those.

It is quite simple. If you are a bigot, don't open a business that means you have to go against your beliefs. And, isn't marital status protected so married/unmarried would be a human rights issue regardless of the genders/sexualities involved?

lagertops · 19/09/2013 18:05

FlapJackFlossie er so if there was a sign outside that said 'No Blacks No Dogs No Irish' then who would be wrong there? Bigotry is bigotry. Good on the couple for challenging these throwbacks!

OP posts:
AlannaPartridge · 19/09/2013 18:05

Apparently on their website they say: ‘We have few rules but please note that out of a deep regard for marriage we prefer to let double accommodation to heterosexual married couples only.’

That seems very clear to me.

HKat · 19/09/2013 18:06

OP YANBU. Don't let the 'best rated' comments get you down. Feel proud about why that depresses you. And never read that rag again.

kali110 · 19/09/2013 18:07

I do feel bad for them they shouldnt be recieving death threats. Im on the fence about the whole situation. When i first heard about it, i was on the blokes side as they shouldnt have been discriminated against.
however i do wonder why they chose to book into this hotel when they knew how the owners ran it?i do feel a bit sorry for the couple, as it is their belief, however maybe they are in the wrong job!!
They could still have run the hotel with some of their beliefs, married couple only, didnt the couple have a civil partnership?

MrsTerryPratchett · 19/09/2013 18:07

‘We have few rules but please note that out of a deep regard for marriage we prefer to let double accommodation to heterosexual married couples only.’

Just replace married or heterosexual with white, British, Jewish and see if that makes anyone more uncomfortable.

NoelHeadbands · 19/09/2013 18:07

Nah I don't feel sorry for them either.

McNewPants2013 · 19/09/2013 18:08

Good on the couple who took them to court.

I have little sympathy for these people who discriminate against people because of sexuality.

kali110 · 19/09/2013 18:08

I was shocked when i read that minority comment lagertops!

McNewPants2013 · 19/09/2013 18:09

How do they know a couple staying is married.

Would i have to take my marriage certificate.

KatieScarlett2833 · 19/09/2013 18:09

I wouldn't stay there on principle. I bet other approved couples felt the same. Bad Bad Bad business decision, serves the fools right.

FlapJackFlossie · 19/09/2013 18:12

None of you are actually listening..........They said people who are not married......whether heterosexual or gay.

So it is not bigotry to erode Christian values?

AlannaPartridge · 19/09/2013 18:17

None of you are actually listening..........They said people who are not married......whether heterosexual or gay

And I have shown you what they actually DID say: ‘We have few rules but please note that out of a deep regard for marriage we prefer to let double accommodation to heterosexual married couples only.’

Christians do not have the right to break the law because it conflicts with their "values". Sorry about that. And no, preventing one group discriminating against another is not "bigotry" Hmm

Owllady · 19/09/2013 18:17

I don't have any sympathy for them either. They work in the 'hospitality industry' and were running a business.

Surely a heterosexual married couple could go and stay there and decide to change lane, that's what they are bothered about isnt it?

lagertops · 19/09/2013 18:19

Exactly my thoughts, Alanna. Each to their own and all that.

Owllady what's changing lane?

OP posts:
ItIsKnown · 19/09/2013 18:19

No sympathy.

Incidentally, The Daily Mail told us all that babies with teeth can't possibly be breastfed this morning so I am boycotting it as well.

lagertops · 19/09/2013 18:19

Owllady

Oh. Blush
Grin

OP posts:
InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream · 19/09/2013 18:20

Yes we are listening- the B and B owners are homophobic bigots. Dress that up however you like. It is not right to discrimate on the grounds of religion OR sexuality.

needasilverlining · 19/09/2013 18:21

Having read the TripAdvisor comments, it sounds as if the problem was as much that the hotel was shit, as it was that it was run by bigots.

No sympathy whatsoever for all the reasons MrsTerryPratchett listed. Although the massive array of 'sadface' pictures was the best yet.

MrsDavidBowie · 19/09/2013 18:24

They don't look too happy do they.
I have little sympathy for them. Would you go and stay there to be served by a couple who wouldn't look out of place in the Blackadder Puritan episode?

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