Gay appeal ruling ‘penalises Christians’
CHRISTIANS are being penalised for their beliefs, campaign groups claimed yesterday after the owners of a guesthouse lost their appeal for refusing a room to a gay couple.
Peter and Hazelmary Bull were ordered to pay £3,600 after losing a legal battle against civil partners Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall.
The couple had refused to allow them to share the double room they had booked at the Chymorvah Hotel in Marazion, Cornwall, in September 2008.
They were found guilty of discrimination at Bristol County Court last year and ordered to pay Mr Hall, 46, and Mr Preddy, 38, of Bristol, £1,800 each. Mrs Bull, 66, and her husband Peter, 71, insisted their policy – a crucial part of their Christian beliefs – applied to all unmarried couples and appealed.
But yesterday Sir Andrew Morritt, Chancellor of the High Court, Lord Justice Hooper and Lady Justice Rafferty, sitting at the Court of Appeal in London, rejected their plea.
After the ruling Simon Calvert, of The Christian Institute, who funded the Bulls’ appeal, warned: “Peter and Hazelmary have been penalised for their beliefs about marriage. Not everyone will agree with Peter and Hazelmary’s beliefs, but a lot of people will think it is a shame that the law doesn’t let them live and work according to their own values under their own roof.”
Peter and Hazelmary have been penalised for their beliefs about marriage
Andrea Minichiello Williams, of Christian Concern, said: “This was the wrong decision. A number of judgments have now elevated sexual orientation rights above historic freedom of belief.
“This was never the intention of Parliament and has no democratic mandate. Bed and breakfast owners have now become another category of people in the UK who will be penalised if they try to serve the public without compromising their religious beliefs.”