Equality Law upheld

[joseph]

that is vry bad marshalnder did yous compline!

[Cardiganwearer]

I suppose he thought it was funny for two middle-aged men to want to sleep in the same bed.

Morecambe and Wise did it every week on the telly when I was a kid.

[marshlander]

Morecambe and Wise did it every week on the telly when I was a kid.

They never slept at the same time though ... and he was too young to have known them

[marshlander]

that is vry bad marshalnder did yous compline!

No, Joseph, we didn't. Oh well. Maybe they are nicer now.

[marshlander]

Sure, there's the whole private establishment thing, but as a business you'd think they wouldn't care if two guys wanted a double as long as they're paying customers. It's not like it's three guys in a triangular love pact wearing tutus and makeup and BDSM gear danced into the lobby with a goat on a leash in tow.

My thoughts exactly

[marshlander]

Was that the Ibis? I've stayed there a couple of times. Not the best place in the world, even for a lone traveller.

Could be - all these places look alike to me! It was the one near the roundabout.

[Cardiganwearer]

Sure, there's the whole private establishment thing, but as a business you'd think they wouldn't care if two guys wanted a double as long as they're paying customers. It's not like it's three guys in a triangular love pact wearing tutus and makeup and BDSM gear danced into the lobby with a goat on a leash in tow.

I don't think the private establishment thing is the same in the UK as the USA, but that notwithstanding the issue in this case was the provision of goods and services. If a shop had declined to sell them goods because they were gay, or to make the analogy a little tighter, refused to sell them certain goods because they were gay they would have been hauled before the courts on the same grounds.

I have been musing on this case. It seems to me that the hotel owners have dedicated their lives to securing their place in heaven, even if they don't make it they're deriving some comfort in this life from the prospect. They presumably also believe that the gay couple involved have nothing to look forward to in the afterlife except an eternity of fiery torment.

Would it not therefore be a gracious act of christian charity to let them have a room they'd booked, that they might better enjoy a weekend during their short stay on earth?

But hey, I'm not a christian, what would I know.

[fredv3b]

The establishment has been repeatedly described in the British media as a 'private hotel', but since they evidently took telephone bookings from random members of the public the word private seems meaningless.

[marshlander]

The establishment has been repeatedly described in the British media as a 'private hotel', but since they evidently took telephone bookings from random members of the public the word private seems meaningless.

I took it to mean a guest house or B & B as opposed to the kind of hotel that is not also someone's main dwelling. I understand what you mean though.