A court ruled yesterday that a gay couple turned away from a bed and breakfast by its Christian owner had been discriminated against, and as such they have been awarded £3,600 in damages for injury to their feelings.
The couple booked a double room at a bed and breakfast in Berkshire by email and paid a deposit, but owner Susanne Wilkinson would not let them stay in the room containing a double bed when they arrived in March 2010, and said she had turned away unmarried heterosexual couples in the past, as it was “against her convictions”.
The Recorder said that by refusing the couple access to a double room, Mrs Wilkinson had “treated them less favourably than she would treat unmarried heterosexual couples in the same circumstances” and ruled that Mrs Wilkinson had breached equality legislation by unlawfully discriminating against the couple on the grounds of their sexual orientation in breach of regulation 4 of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007.
However, Mrs Wilkinson claimed she had been acting in accordance with her religion, and her belief that homosexual relations, as opposed to orientation, are “sinful” and insisted that she had also turned away several unmarried heterosexual couples because they appeared to want the room during the day for sex.
Miss Recorder Moulder accepted that while the application of the regulations to Mrs Wilkinson’s bed and breakfast establishment does not prevent her from holding her religious beliefs, she has chosen to operate a commercial business for financial purposes.
Consequently, the Recorder concluded that the application of the regulations to the defendant bed and breakfast establishment and the finding that the refusal of the double room constituted direct discrimination, are not in breach of Mrs Wilkinson’s Article 9 Rights.
However, Mrs Wilkinson was given leave to appeal against the ruling