Basil Fawlty lives... ?

A slightly disturbing news item I came across yesterday reports the case of the gay couple who were refused the accommodation they'd booked at a B&B because of the owners' Christian beliefs - and the fact that they've now decided to sue. I'm not going to comment on this sort of Christian attitude towards gay people, but it certainly doesn't sit well with my own Christian beliefs. And while I don't doubt the sincerity of their beliefs, to claim they're not "opposed to gay people" seems oddly at variance with the action they took. However the bottom line is that what they did was and is against the law. They're in business - to make money out of their guests - and they can't pick and choose which laws to follow and which to reject.

Of course it doesn't really help having the then shadow Home Secretary saying that people running B&B in their own homes should have the right to reject homosexual guests. Or maybe Muslims, black, Irish.... as indeed used to be the case years ago before discrimination became illegal. If you're throwing a party in your own home, you can please yourself who you do or don't invite. But if you're running a business or providing a service for payment, you can't - it's as simple as that. And if your beliefs stand in the way of it, then maybe you're in the wrong business.