Q

I read yesterday of the case of the two gay men who were turned away by a guesthouse because they confirmed that they had wanted a double bed and hadn’t tried to deceive or hide the fact they are an established couple.

For many years my female partner and I hid the fact that we were a couple when going on holiday, and frequently booked twin beds to avoid that ‘look’ at reception when they tell you you’ve booked a double bed, expect you to request it be changed to twins, then raise an eyebrow when you say you are fine with the current arrangement. I can tell you, it isn’t nice to be made to feel embarrassed when checking in. The ‘look’ is bad enough but if I had ever been sent away I think I would have felt so humiliated that I don’t think I would ever again have booked a weekend break!

We were both delighted when the anti-discrimination law was passed that would allow us to stop telling fibs and pretending to be different people, scuttling around as if we had something to be ashamed of. So this news was dispiriting in the extreme and to be frank with you, puts me off staying in a B&B.  I would rather opt for an impersonal hotel where the staff are going to be more bothered about their payslip than my so called lifestyle!

A

It did come as a shock to many of us in the hospitality industry to discover that homophobia is still alive and well and wagging its supposed ‘moralistic’ head in 2010 – although perhaps the recent carry-on in the papal residence about the confirmation of women or gay priests should have given us fair warning.

It’s funny how people can always find a convenient hook on which to hang their assumptions.  Somehow Jesus’ warning about hurling the first stone, and Christianity’s insistence on compassion and forgiveness, seem to be overruled when it comes to upholding bigotry. Mary, mother of Jesus, probably faced untold discrimination and assumptions when it was discovered she was pregnant and not yet married to Joseph. There was no room at the inn for her; let’s hope the gay men found a stable or at least somewhere warm to stay overnight (and yes, there is a safety issue here about turning people away who haven’t booked alternate accommodation).

One of the issues is that some owners of B&Bs don’t realise that they are subject to the same legislation as hotels – there is a residual assumption that because they are letting people into their own home, the law doesn’t ‘quite’ apply to them.

The law does apply to all B&Bs and it clearly states that it is illegal to discriminate against guests on the basis of their sexuality (amongst other things).

It would be a sad day indeed if all people who feared they might be discriminated against decided to stay in chain hotels. You deserve the wonderful service that we in the B&B industry can and do deliver every single day. Don’t let one very unfortunate and misguided incident scare you off. We are not bigots – every community might have one bad apple.