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Christian B&B owners lose at Supreme Court
grantus_max
Posts: 2,744 Forum Member
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Just seen this on the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25119158
"Mike Judge, from the Christian Institute, said after the hearing: 'What this case shows is that the powers of political correctness have reached all the way to the top of the judicial tree, so much so that even the Supreme Court dare not say anything against gay rights.'"
Actually, what this case demonstrates is that Christians have no more right than any other group to impose their personal opinions regarding gay or unmarried couples on paying customers when offering their home for a commercial venture.
If they feel that they cannot operate their business within the law because of their own personal conscience, then that's a shame, but I see no way around it which doesn't end up with discrimination on the basis of sexuality.
They exist within a greater society which is necessarily more inclusive than the tenets they live by.
"Mike Judge, from the Christian Institute, said after the hearing: 'What this case shows is that the powers of political correctness have reached all the way to the top of the judicial tree, so much so that even the Supreme Court dare not say anything against gay rights.'"
Actually, what this case demonstrates is that Christians have no more right than any other group to impose their personal opinions regarding gay or unmarried couples on paying customers when offering their home for a commercial venture.
If they feel that they cannot operate their business within the law because of their own personal conscience, then that's a shame, but I see no way around it which doesn't end up with discrimination on the basis of sexuality.
They exist within a greater society which is necessarily more inclusive than the tenets they live by.
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If they want to run a business that is open to the public then they have to run it within the confines of the law of the land. Religion cannot come into it at all.
I wonder if they will go to the European Court of Human Rights?
^^^^^
Exactly this, Religious nutjobs are so lost in their fantasy world that they lose touch with reality & fail to move with the times. Over the years we have had deaths caused by religion, like.....
All those Jehovah Witnesses that had lost someone through to refusing a blood transfusion, thankfully the law changed so that doctors were able to give the transfusions.
Those aids sufferers that were brainwashed to stop taking their medication & to use faith instead. They prayed instead of taking their pills and they died.
That Lady in Ireland that died from the result of being refused an abortion due to some nutjob saying that she couldn't have an abortion because she was in a Catholic country.
And now common sense prevails over make believe BS. The judge made the right decision in this case. My only hope now is that nonce priests are found & put to trial in front of the law & not by the sky fairy.
Thank goodness! Although I quite like the idea of Christian Institute wasn't their money further on a lost cause.
I've already seen the religious loons on twitter moaning about Political Correctness gone mad and all that crap. lol
One suggests registering as some sort of religious organisation or institute and bypassing discrimination laws... Good luck with that. That will decrease the number of potential guests
Yes it is not right to discriminate but the world is not a fair place nor ever will be. If people allow others poor values to get under their skin then they will always be unhappy.
Perhaps I am just too easy going...
In this case I've no great sympathy for the B&B owners but I'm not keen on the idea of setting this kind of legal precedent.
People are people, no matter what their sexual preference, it has sod all to do with them, with their religion or morals, more about ignorance and intolerance.
Result!!
Why put up with blatant discrimination? If you can help to make the world a fairer place, go for it!
What if they denied a room to a black couple or a mixed race couple?
Why does it set legal precedent just because the courts were in agreement with the gay couple? I'd be pretty hacked off if I paid for a room with my partner and then told due to "religious belief" we couldn't share a bed. It's none of their business and they shouldn't be enforcing their personal views on other people.
Legal precedent? There is one already - it says you cannot stop people accessing your public-facing business because of their sexual orientation. That sounds fair enough to me.
If you run a business, you run a business. If it is open to the public you cannot pick and choose your customers based on things like sexual orientation or race, colour, nationality etc.
Before adding 'Heh heh. Heh heh. Homeowners'.
It's not really setting a precedent - just clarifying a law which already exists.
It's a shame in a way that tolerance needs to be enforced by law, but if it subsequently leads to more tolerance then it's a very good thing.
Well there are whole countries that are like the owners of this B&B. Central Africa, Saudi Arabia...
It's not just that it's not right to discriminate it's illegal to do so on the grounds of someone's sexuality or race or sex etc.
The Bulls were breaking the law and that is why the gay couple didn't just go elsewhere. If everyone took your attitude then society would never change. Why should people get away with treating gay people badly? Why should gay people accept getting booted out of accommodation because of their sexuality?
What legal precedent is that?that discriminating on the grounds of sexuality is a bad thing and shouldn't be allowed? Yeah that would be terrible wouldn't it. :rolleyes:
If they'd won the right to discriminate it would have been a precedent. As it was, it was just a straight forward case based on the discrimination laws already in place. They were obviously being bankrolled by a wealthy Christian group.
All the more reason for tackling this sort of discrimination where we can actually do something about it IMO. If it were to be condoned in this country how could any progress ever be made.