Church Friends Pay Gay Case Fine ; Christian Hoteliers Lose Court Battle Judge: 'This Is Direct Discrimination'

Summary

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The Christian hoteliers who were told by a judge they had acted unlawfully by refusing a gay couple a double room, have revealed their fine will be paid by donations from other Christians. Yesterday Judge Andrew Rutherford made the landmark ruling that Peter and Hazelmary Bull were breaking the law, when they denied Bristol couple Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy a room at their hotel in Cornwall, in September 2008. At a hearing last month it came to light Mr Hall and Mr Preddy were seeking up to Pounds 5,000 damages against the hotel owners, claiming sexual orientation discrimination under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007. In a written judgment at Bristol County Court yesterday, the judge awarded the couple Pounds 1,800 each in damages, but after the ruling Mrs Bull revealed donations from other Christians would pay the bill. Mrs Bull said: "We are trying to live and work in accordance with our Christian faith. As a result we have been sued and fined Pounds 3,600. "But hundreds of Christians have given us gifts, so thanks to them we will be able to pay the fines."

At a hearing last month, the Bulls claimed they have a longstanding policy of banning all unmarried couples both heterosexual and gay, from sharing a bed at the Chymorvah Private Hotel in Marazion near Penzance. Mr Bull, 70, and his wife, 66, said their policy, operated since they bought the hotel in 1986, is based on their beliefs about marriage and not a hostility to sexual orientation. But in his ruling, Judge Rutherford said: "We live today in a parliamentary democracy. Our laws are made by the Queen in Parliament. It is inevitable that such laws will from time to time cut across deeply held beliefs of individuals and sections of society for they reflect the social attitudes and morals prevailing at the time that they are made." "The claimants are a family in the eyes of the law just as much as are the married defendants.

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Church Friends Pay Gay Case Fine ; Christian Hoteliers Lose Court Battle Judge: 'This Is Direct Discrimination'

"It seems to me that a correct analysis of the position of the defendants is that they discriminate on the basis of marital status. "Th...

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