If someone believes that only a heterosexual married couple should sleep together, is it right to stop couples that do not fall into that group?
This is a toxic area, so this article looks at whether it is right and lawful to ban gays from staying at Bed and Breakfasts or hotels.
Table of Contents:
1. The two incidents that Gays cannot stay at Bed and Breakfasts that went to court.
Michael Black and John Morgan not allowed to stay at Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Berkshire in March 2010.
‘Gay couple sue bed and breakfast owner.’ The Guardian. 1
A gay couple have sued the owner of bed and breakfast accommodation after she refused to let them stay in a double room because of her religious views…
Lawyers from Liberty, the human rights organisation, which has taken up the case, argued that under legal regulations it was unlawful for a person concerned with the provision of services to the public to discriminate against a person on the grounds of that person’s sexual orientation.
Lawyers for Wilkinson argued that a person offering bed and breakfast in their own home was entitled to refuse to permit persons who were not married or in a civil partnership (whether of the opposite sex or the same sex) to share a double bed.
The couple are not in a civil partnership, and in these circumstances, there was no direct or indirect discrimination, the lawyers said.
Wilkinson, a married mother-of-four, considers that providing a double bed to the couple would involve her in promoting what she believed to be a sin, namely sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage.
The court ruled that a gay couple who were turned away from a bed and breakfast were discriminated against.
They were awarded £1,800 each at Reading County Court for ‘injury to feelings’.
The judge accepted Mrs Wilkinson was genuine about her Christian beliefs and had also stopped unmarried heterosexual couples from sharing a double bed. 2
Also, the Christian owners of a hotel in Cornwall who banned a gay couple from staying have lost their final battle in the Supreme Court to win legal support for their selective guest policy which stated on their online booking form, that double bedrooms are available only to ‘heterosexual married couples’. 3
2. The results of the ruling.
If someone has strong views in their interpretation of the Bible, can they ban a gay couple from staying under their roof?
Well yes within reason, if it is their own private house.
But as soon as it is a Bed and Breakfast or a hotel, that makes it a place of business and so it becomes subject to community standards – whether the proprietors agree with that or not.
So regardless of whether you live there or not, under English and European law, it is unlawful to refuse a same-sex couple.
John Wadham, a director at the Human Rights Commission, said the hotel was a commercial enterprise and subject to community standards, rather than private ones.
3. Is it judgemental to ban Gays?
Is it judgemental to say: “Gays cannot stay at Bed and Breakfasts or hotels?”
It is easy to jump on a soap box and speak out about how wrong a same-sex relationship is – if that is what you strongly believe.
But I may be throwing the cat among the pigeons by asking, ‘How many people have been turned away from a Bed and Breakfasts for being greedy and materialistic?’
Has anyone been denied entry because they are an angry person?
Yes someone can be turned away for shouting at the proprietor, but how about for living an angry life?
If some Christians want to ban gay couples from staying at Bed and Breakfasts or hotels, why haven’t others been turned away for gossiping, slandering or lying?
4. Are some sins ‘acceptable’ while others are not?
So, some Christians say that Gays cannot stay at B & B’s or hotels, but allow greedy people or liars to stay.
Are these ‘things’ on the same level?
Does God really see any one of these as being worse than the rest?
My thoughts on this are: If anybody wants to ban a Gay couple from a B & B then why don’t they ban a greedy person or an angry person?
(I could also add an unmarried couple to that list – but that broadens the topic too much.)
The answer may be that greed and anger are ‘not so bad’ in some people’s eyes, well let’s quickly look at them:
(See an in-depth article on this, ‘Views on what makes a sin terrible or acceptable‘.)
5. Why not bash greedy people?
By greed, I mean a desire for wealth, status, and power.
The Bible is very direct on this:
and greed, which is idolatry.”
Colossians 3:5 NIV
Yes, the desire for wealth, status, and power is idolatry, to which the Bible says:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: … idolatry … selfish ambition…
Galatians 5:19-21
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.“
That sounds very severe. If Christians ban Gays shouldn’t they ban a greedy person?
6. Why not ban someone with an angry life?
There is good anger and bad anger – the former can be expressed in a good way when, for example, children were known to be in a situation where they were being abused by grown-ups and nothing was done to stop it.
Bad anger is the normal self-centred reaction and Jesus puts this anger on the same level as murder!
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago,
Matthew 5:21-22 NIV
‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.“
Do Christians turn a blind eye to angry people?
7. Some Christians want to bash Gay people
Why do a few Christians want to point the finger at Gay people?
Are Gay people worse than greedy or angry people, or adulterers, etc?
Is it right to say: “Gays cannot stay at B & B’s or hotels”?
I just don’t see Jesus excluding certain people, he was always in amongst the ordinary people, and spending time with those who didn’t attend the Temple.
He met people where THEY were.
Jesus didn’t ‘bash’ prostitutes or swindling tax collectors, but unfortunately, a few Christians seem to want to ‘bash’ Gay people.
The only time Jesus remotely went ‘bashing’ was towards the religious hypocrites, the people who promoted lots of laws but they didn’t submit to God, nor honour Him.
On one occasion Jesus really laid into them and gave them a bashing:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
Matthew 23:13-15 and 23-28 NIV
You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.
You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are…
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.
But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.
You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former.
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
Wow, that is fierce stuff.
But Jesus was gentle, non-judgmental and compassionate when he met and dined with prostitutes, tax-gatherers and people known as ‘sinners’.
How do we match up to Jesus’ attitudes?
In almost any congregation there will be an unwritten code of conduct where the ones that start to do ‘things’ in the ‘unacceptable’ areas will be shunned, ostracised or banned and they can include trivial social differences…
Church leaders are becoming managers of a business called ‘church’, is that right and how are the best leaders chosen?
For the average person on the street is church relevant, how do we meet the challenge?
References and credits – open in new tabs:
‘Gay couple sue bed and breakfast owner.’ Press Association, The Guardian. 17 Sep 2012. ↩
‘Gay couple win Berkshire B&B refusal case.’ BBC. 18 October 2012 ↩
‘Christian guesthouse owners lose appeal over right to bar gay couples’ The Guardian. 27 Nov 2013. ↩
Image adapted from: Man Clutching Moneybags While Banks Collapse by Emmanuel Wyttenbach is in the Public Domain ↩