18/05/2010 - Gay couple refused B&B room to sue
The owners of a bed and breakfast face a court appearance after they refused to allow a gay couple to share a bed.
Michael Black, 62, and partner John Morgan, 56, are planning to sue the owner of Swiss B&B in Cookham, Berkshire, in a civil action supported by civil liberties organisation Liberty.
The owner told the couple it was "against her convictions" to let them share a bed in March this year.
The couple, from Brampton, Cambridgeshire, contacted Thames Valley Police, who described the alleged incident as a "homophobic incident". Upon hearing about their plight, several people contacted the couple offering to put them up for free.
Liberty's legal director, James Welch, said the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 made it unlawful for public authorities and other service providers to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation.
He said: "This isn't about money for them. Their only motive is in order to prove the point that it is unlawful and should not have happened.
"If they win, they have said they will give any money away to charity."
Swiss B&B owner Mike Wilkinson said he and his wife Susanne stood by their stance and denied being opposed to gays.
He insisted that they were simply upholding their Christian beliefs in not wanting two homosexuals to share a bed under their roof.
He said: "Our decision was based on our Christian beliefs and that position hasn't changed.
"We are rather surprised that Liberty would be so one-sided in a matter of liberty because there are two liberties to uphold in this case.
"There is a religious liberty to uphold and there is the right for homosexuals to practise what they want to do. We have received the letter from them.
"We don't want to go to court but if they want us to then I suppose we will have to. We are sorry we have offended these guys.
"We are not against homosexuals doing what they want to do. We have an issue with what goes on in our private business and in that situation we feel we were right in not wanting them to share a bed.
"We didn't say they couldn't have two single rooms, we didn't want them to share a double room."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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