... but I certainly haven't. Sometimes I hate working on my own - you end up procrastinating and mulling over things, find motivation difficult - and are easily distracted ( it's called blogging ). Out of the corner of my eye - Richard Burton and Jean Simmons have just been condemned to death and are ascending to heaven - you don't see that everyday. There have been so many biblical Hollywood films on recently - I'm starting to think it's Easter.
The gay couple who were turned away from a B&B have just won modest damages from the owners, which is - I think, appropriate. Obviously the right wing press have been very itchy about it - siting that the couple have religious values which are being trodden over. But this makes very little sense. The couple called to ensure that their dog was welcome - but on arrival, found that they, themselves, were not. It would be illegal for them to put up a notice in the window - or to advertise 'no gays', just as it would be to say 'no blacks, Jews or Irish' - so why should it be OK to whisper it behind closed doors. If their Christian faith was so important to them - they would have been very welcome to state it on their advertising material - if the couple had seen an advert that stated 'we run this establishment on strict biblical guidelines' - then they would have probably decided against staying there, as would many people - you can't roll out your christianity when you feel like it. Much has been made of the fact that it is their own home, as are many businesses - pubs for example are usually residences too - if a gay couple went to the bar of an ordinary looking pub and were turned away - it would be illegal, but if it looked like the kind of place that didn't suit them, they would probably have turned around and walked out of their own choice. The point is - if you run a business, you must abide by the law of the land. I'm sure they can't turn round and refuse to have a fire door or insurance because it might be against some religious principle.
When I was a kid and my folks had a pub / hotel - they would have been happy to take anyone that looked clean and respectable, regardless - because that's what they did for a living - they were in business. You used to be nice and professional - take them to their rooms and forget about them until morning. We were upstairs, they were down on the floor below - in a private room that they had paid hard earned money for the right to be left alone in.
I have no problem with the hotel owners - they have a perfect right to live their lives in accordance with any belief system they wish, and I have some respect for them for sticking to their guns - but we live in the real world - and society does not work exclusively on their lines, you can't pick and choose the rules.
1 comment:
I do have a problem with the hotel owners qua hotel owners. They can be as choosy as they like in whom to "invite into their home", but once they are operating a public service, which is what a B&B is, then it isn't just a home - they are in public and have to obey public rules, just as a Muslim taxi driver has to accept a blind man's guide dog into his car. If they don't like treating other people as equals they will have to find some other use for the spare bedrooms in their lovely home.
And I get a bit fed up with the passive-aggressive attitude here of people who are still living in the C19th.
Post a Comment