Following the award of damages against Peter and Hazelmary Bulls, who refused to allow a homosexual couple to share a double bed in their guesthouse, another Christian B&B owner is now being taken to court.
Michael Black, and Liberal Democrat councillor John Morgan, are claiming that they were discriminated against under sexual discrimination law after being turned away from a B&B in Cookham, Berkshire on 19 March 2010. They have launched legal proceedings against Susanne Wilkinson, the Christian owner of the B&B, to “make sure that people can't break the sexual discrimination act and get away with it”.
Mr Black and Mr Morgan arrived at the B&B on 19 March 2010. Mrs Wilkinson invited the men in before explaining “courteously” why she could not offer them the room. She insisted that she was not homophobic and would have offered two single rooms, but that the guest house was fully booked. Her husband Francis, a former City worker, explained politely that it was a question of living by their faith and that it was against their Christian faith to allow them to share a bed.
Human rights group Liberty confirmed that they are representing the homosexual couple and said that it will be announced in the next two weeks when and where the court case will take place. The Christian Institute is supporting Mrs Wilkinson.
The Wilkinson’s have been subjected to abusive phone calls, text messages and emails since the facts of their story emerged in the media. Mr Wilkinson told the police: “There must have been 900 emails, and I would say half of them are really abusive and threatening”.
This follows the experience of the Bulls, who have suffered many abusive phone calls from homosexuals following the ruling and have even had fake and damaging reviews of their B&B posted online. They may have to sell their B&B and move out of their home.
Tory MP Chris Grayling was removed from his job of Shadow Home Secretary after he was recorded saying that B&B owners should be allowed to follow their conscience and exercise their Christian faith when dealing with this issue. Mr Grayling was secretly recorded making the comments in April 2010 at a meeting of the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank. He did say that hotels should not be allowed to discriminate against homosexuals, but those individuals running B&Bs were a different matter.
In the same month, the Conservative Party’s candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran, Philip Lardner, was sacked for expressing his view on the case and his views on homosexuality on his website.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre, said:
“The level of intolerance against those who wish to live by their faith or even express opinions that are not deemed ‘politically correct’ appears to be reaching endemic proportions. Opposition, abuse and harassment are being used by elements of the homosexual lobby to silence any dissenting opinions and crush those who have a different set of beliefs.
Equality law is completely out of balance at the moment as judicial interpretation is consistently favouring homosexual ‘rights’ over the very historic rights of freedom of conscience and freedom of speech. This is a dangerous situation and cannot continue or we will see an escalation of these cases and more injustice.”
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Christian Concern: Conservative candidate suspended for expressing views on homosexuality.
Christian Concern: Calls for Shadow Home Secretary to be sacked for supporting Christian conscience.
Christian Concern: Christian guesthouse owners ordered to pay compensation.