Discrimination 101
Jan. 18th, 2011 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wwcitizenThis morning's Telegraph (UK newspaper) posted an article about a civil union couple on holiday who were turned away by the hotel proprietors because the couple is gay. The article is very well written. The judge presiding over the case was fair and impartial and his judgments were very clearly articulated - toward the end of the article. Most Americans, in my experience with these types of articles and discussions, wouldn't get to the end of the article.
In the UK, if you are part of a civil union, the relationship by law carries the same weight as if you're married, which I wish would happen in the US. Not only gay couples can have a civil union, either! The British law provides that any two people can be in a civil union, if they choose not to get married; they would also call themselves "civil unioned".
According to the (religiously-minded) owners of the hotel in question, they would have allowed female-female or male-male friends stay in single bed accommodations, but not in a double bed room. The civil unioned gay couple was right in thinking that they need not ask whether they would be allowed to stay in a double bed room, since their partnership is legal. However, the proprietors' religious beliefs came into play and the gay couple was turned away - even though they had made a reservation. The gay couple's dog could have stayed in the double bed room, but the couple themselves were not allowed. That's discrimination.
Along a similar vein, Matt and I had gotten a room in 2008 at a B&B (The Laingdon Inn) in Ocean Grove, NJ, which was founded as a Christian community. Ocean Grove is a dry town (no alcohol served) and its townsfolk used to be primarily Methodists across the board. In order to buy a house there, you would own the house, but pay rent on the land to the town. Very strange set up, I must say. Suffice it to say, the B&B was nice and accommodating to us and a few other gay couples during the weekend following Thanksgiving. Ocean Grove is right down the beach from Asbury Park, where we go to a charity event every year (Santa Saturday).
In 2009, when we called for a reservation, their prices had gone up almost double for the same weekend, even though their online prices showed the same prices as in 2008. We decided to go to a different place in 2009. In 2010, the online system showed that they were open for business and reservations for the same weekend at the 2008 prices, so we tried to book a room there again. Even though the online system accepted our reservation for the weekend we wanted, because it's a B&B, I contacted the place directly to confirm that we had a reservation.
When I called them directly, they asked if I had stayed there before on the same weekend, and I said we had. They then said, "We're closed that weekend; we'll go ahead and cancel that reservation for you."
I said, "You're closed for Thanksgiving Day weekend? But your online system shows availability."
As in 2009 when their prices were wrong, they said, "We need to update our site to show that we're closed."
I thought that whole thing was strange and I'd never experienced something like that before- a B&B being closed for a holiday weekend. Of course, Matt and I started talking about the phone calls, the charity event weekend, and the conservative nature of Ocean Grove. It would seem from our point of view that the B&B has a problem with that particular weekend - when all the gays come to town. They were open the weekend before and the weekend after Thanksgiving Day weekend. You'd think that a B&B would want the business given the current economic landscape.
That Telegraph article brought my mind back to the interaction with the B&B around Thanksgiving...
In the UK, if you are part of a civil union, the relationship by law carries the same weight as if you're married, which I wish would happen in the US. Not only gay couples can have a civil union, either! The British law provides that any two people can be in a civil union, if they choose not to get married; they would also call themselves "civil unioned".
According to the (religiously-minded) owners of the hotel in question, they would have allowed female-female or male-male friends stay in single bed accommodations, but not in a double bed room. The civil unioned gay couple was right in thinking that they need not ask whether they would be allowed to stay in a double bed room, since their partnership is legal. However, the proprietors' religious beliefs came into play and the gay couple was turned away - even though they had made a reservation. The gay couple's dog could have stayed in the double bed room, but the couple themselves were not allowed. That's discrimination.
Along a similar vein, Matt and I had gotten a room in 2008 at a B&B (The Laingdon Inn) in Ocean Grove, NJ, which was founded as a Christian community. Ocean Grove is a dry town (no alcohol served) and its townsfolk used to be primarily Methodists across the board. In order to buy a house there, you would own the house, but pay rent on the land to the town. Very strange set up, I must say. Suffice it to say, the B&B was nice and accommodating to us and a few other gay couples during the weekend following Thanksgiving. Ocean Grove is right down the beach from Asbury Park, where we go to a charity event every year (Santa Saturday).
In 2009, when we called for a reservation, their prices had gone up almost double for the same weekend, even though their online prices showed the same prices as in 2008. We decided to go to a different place in 2009. In 2010, the online system showed that they were open for business and reservations for the same weekend at the 2008 prices, so we tried to book a room there again. Even though the online system accepted our reservation for the weekend we wanted, because it's a B&B, I contacted the place directly to confirm that we had a reservation.
When I called them directly, they asked if I had stayed there before on the same weekend, and I said we had. They then said, "We're closed that weekend; we'll go ahead and cancel that reservation for you."
I said, "You're closed for Thanksgiving Day weekend? But your online system shows availability."
As in 2009 when their prices were wrong, they said, "We need to update our site to show that we're closed."
I thought that whole thing was strange and I'd never experienced something like that before- a B&B being closed for a holiday weekend. Of course, Matt and I started talking about the phone calls, the charity event weekend, and the conservative nature of Ocean Grove. It would seem from our point of view that the B&B has a problem with that particular weekend - when all the gays come to town. They were open the weekend before and the weekend after Thanksgiving Day weekend. You'd think that a B&B would want the business given the current economic landscape.
That Telegraph article brought my mind back to the interaction with the B&B around Thanksgiving...
