What do we think about Chris Grayling suggesting B&Bs should be able to bar gay guests?

[said]

Grayling suggests B&Bs should be able to bar gay guests Story here

Considering he may be the future Home Secretary...

DP: I wasn't aware that I had left

I'm quite taken with the idea that business owners should have to 'fess up about their prejudices so you can decide whether to deal with them before you get to the point of handing over your cash.

Maybe B&B owners should have to list their favourite books. I'd avoid anyone owning more than one Jeffrey Archer (one might be left by a previous guest, two looks suspicious).

"It will backfire just like thx Gene Hunt/David Cameron poster. "

I think your right, if you read other forums without such a huge labour 'movement' on them it already has, people agree that;

1. one group should not be discriminated over another (gay over faith )

2. that a B&B is a home before it's a business and therefore the right to refuse should apply

As for the Hunt/ Cameron poster, loved it and if I can pursuade our local association to get one for me I shall display it on the run up to the election in my front garden next to a primary school, that should get the conservatives some more votes.

Shops are private property and should be allowed to refuse to serve people because of a Protected Characteristic? Rhubarb. All property is private property unless it's a government-owned building! What, so gay people should only be allowed in the Council offices?

OK then...along comes Mrs Bloggins who is a wheelchair user who wants to buy a loaf of bread. They go into the corner shop and say "A loaf of bread, please, Mrs Shopkeeper".

"S*d off - we don't want your sort in here - this is private property".

Hands up all those who want to live in that society?

The outcome of that is now anything up to a £200,000 fine on the business, by the way. (Latest case to go through the courts in Nov).

So yes, people can be prejudiced - we can all choose to break the law. I could nip out and rob a bank tomorrow "because I can", but the question is not whether I can, but whether it is right to do so. We know it's not right to rob a bank. It is against the law.

It is not right nor is it legal to refuse to serve people because they are disabled, black, or in a loving relationship with someone we personally don't approve of.

So, prejudice? Yup, it's out there - but let's hope they have plenty of cash to do it with, eh?

ooh can someone link to this Hunt/Cameron poster? haven't seen it

amberlight- yep I don't want to live in that society either.

I frankly doubt that many gay b and b owners would turn away people of faith - or even be slightly concerned about the faith status. The point of protecting gay rights by law is that gay people are indeed subject to instant prejudice because of the fact that their sexuality is 'visible' in some way (e.g. they are travelling as a couple.) People of faith are hardly discriminated against in the same way.

What the law is saying is that it will not protect certain rights to act out prejudices. I am prejudiced against Tories, fair enough. But I'd never turn them away from my b&b and indeed have been known to have drinks, dinners and even relationships with the evil buggers (we argued a lot about politics) :D

btw I'm not actually a labour supporter. I think they're all shite but labour are clearly better on gay rights.

The link is very long but if you go to the guardian online it is easy to navigate to.

i thought its all a bit daft - there are isses involved where rights conflict - one persons right to be gay conflicts with another persons right to be a homophobe - these are both rights protected by the law in one form or another. there are legitimate questions about how to balance these rights.

the man has, as someone has already said, a 100% record on gay rights. i think this is more daft tabloid fodder, and i also think that homophobia is just as likely to be found on the opposite benches....

DM link to cameron/ hunt poster;

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1263602/Revealed-The-24-year-old-Labour-hopeful-Cameron-Quattro-pos ter-got-pasting.html

Presumably even though B&B's might be homes as well as business premises, they are not exempt from Health and Safety legislation, fire regulations, food hygiene requirements, employment law if they employ staff and any of the other laws that businesses must abide by?

So if the fact that they live in their business premises doesn't exempt them from other laws, why should it exempt them from anti-discrimination legislation?

If they are allowed to discriminate because they run their business from home, does that mean they should be able to insist on recruiting only white staff, or only young staff, or only female staff?

cant even believe people are trying to justify this. homophobia wherever it occurs is wrong.

flowerybeanbag, a very good point indeed.

"If I'm Mr Prejudice, the proud owner of "Whites Only B&B", presumably no-one is going to mind if I tell the black people that they can't work for me in cleaning the rooms. After all, it's my house and if I find black people offensive, that's my own business, isn't it."

Yup, people really are trying to say this sort of behaviour is OK. It isn't.

If people have a religious objection to treating gay people like they're human beings too, they shouldn't run businesses where they will find they have to exclude them. Mind you, I can't imagine other employers being too delighted if they instead opt to be prejudiced Christian office workers who won't work with Gay people, or prejudiced Christian police who won't help Gay people, or prejudiced Christian Firemen/women who won't rescue Gay people from burning buildings.

Gee whizz, is this really 2010?

homophobia wherever it occurs is wrong.

yes. but not necessarily illegal, which is the key point here..

i don't actually want homophobia to be illegal. (typical liberal dilemma)

Yes it is illegal. per the Sexual Orientation Regs 2007, it is an offense to discriminate as far as not offering goods or services based on sexuality.

The ridiculous point the Tory MP was making was that he had sympathy for the fact that it was someone's home and that one's religion/beliefs should be considered, however even the church won't be able to discriminate, when the Equalities Bill/Act is implemented.

"when the Equalities Bill/Act is implemented. "

Will they now have time to push this bill through?

Churches can still discriminate to some extent, even on the latest amendments, e.g. they don't have to offer a Civil Partnership ceremony in the churches, but they can choose to. And they can discriminate on choosing clergy, too. Still hoping that this changes jolly soon.

'prejudiced Christian Firemen/women who won't rescue Gay people from burning buildings.'

yeah amberlight, I wonder if the right to not work with/coexist with gay people will extend to nurses, doctors, etc...!!

What homophobic people tend to say is 'I don't mind as long as they don't shove it in my face'- because as queers we clearly all go round shoving our sexuality in people's faces eh?. I think for a lot of Tories Daily Mail reading types the mere act of sharing a room with your partner counts as shoving sexual activity in your face regardless of what you and said partner are actually doing in there.

So presumably it woudl not be acceptable to leave 'queers' to die....wonder if Christians will also be allowed to shoot queer burglars if they break into their 'own homes' (sorry, now I being facetious...)

Flowery - we are not exempt from any of those but it is interesting that you don't have to be registered anywhere to run a B&B. If you let over 3 rooms then you come under business guidelines therefore the anti discriminatory legislation, 3 rooms and under you don't even need a business account.

Amd it is amazing the amount of homes around here who just do it on weekends and holidays to get extra cash.

(slightly disappointed that none of you found my homophone/homophobe reference for atlantis wildly amusing)

It was very funny, and yes i smirked but i was essentially disagreeing with you so i couldn't possibly laugh at it!

toldyouso,

pot kettle black, try checking your own posts for errors ( wrighting ?? is that something ian wright does?, alot is a town I thnk you mean a lot , jsut ? i'm guessing you mean just ) and as many know i'm dyslexic and quite frankly non-anal about grammer so go smell what your shoveling, it's a forum not a magazine article ffs ,if you don't like my posts don't read them, quite frankly I don't give a sh*t.

"(slightly disappointed that none of you found my homophone/homophobe reference for atlantis wildly amusing) "

Yes, it's always fun to take the piss out of disabled people isn't it, just not gays?

Gotta love hypocrites.