Posted on 11/29/2013 6:34:00 AM PST by NYer
LONDON, November 28, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Peter and Hazelmary Bull, the Christian hoteliers fined for refusing a single room to two homosexual men in September 2008, have lost their appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court, with the court ruling that their company policy was “discriminatory.”
Despite the fact that the couple proved that their policy applied equally to any unmarried couples, and not just homosexuals, all five judges ruled the Bulls’ policy to be a case of illegal discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and dismissed their appeal. Two of the judges said the discrimination was “indirect,” but unjustified.
The elderly couple said they were “deeply disappointed and saddened” at the decision that has “reinforced the notion that gay rights must trump everything else.”
They have said that they have been the victims of an ongoing hate campaign, including threats and abusive phone calls and emails, vandalism of their home and car. The Christian Institute reports that wheel nuts were removed from the couple’s car “and recently a dead rabbit was nailed to their fence”. The website of the business was recently hacked and replaced with pornography.
Mrs. Bull told the Christian Institute in September that they had no choice but to sell their business, having gone hungry and without heating last winter in their struggle to make mortgage payments.
“We’re just ordinary Christians who believe in the importance of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Mrs. Bull said in a statement after the verdict.
“Britain ought to be a country of freedom and tolerance, but it seems religious beliefs must play second fiddle to the new orthodoxy of political correctness,” she added. “Somehow, we have got to find a way of allowing different beliefs to coexist in our society.”
The Supreme Court deputy president, Lady Hale, said the Bulls are free to “manifest their religion” but by refusing to allow homosexual men to share a double bed in their establishment, they were breaking the law.
In what has been called the first national test case of the Equality Act’s Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR) for Christians who hold traditional sexual moral beliefs, the Bulls have lost in every court, starting with the Bristol Crown Court in January 2011.
Moreover, Judge Andrew Rutherford declared in the Bristol Crown Court ruling that in law there is no discernable difference between civil partnership and marriage, a ruling which later helped to pass the Conservative government’s “gay marriage” act.
The legal action has had a huge impact on the Bulls’ lives. In addition to being fined £3,600 for the “hurt and embarrassment” felt by the complainants, Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, the Bulls were ordered to pay the latter’s legal expenses.
The Bulls have failed in their efforts to find a way to continue their business enterprise while living their beliefs. The Government’s tourism board for England struck the Bulls’ B&B off their approved list of guesthouses and homosexualist groups and publications have enacted a boycott.
They tried to turn their guesthouse into a non-profit, Christian-only retreat centre, but have recently announced that their legal fight has been so costly they have no choice but to sell their home. They have operated their business for 25 years and have always made their policy known to guests.
Hazelmary Bull has described their situation as exemplifying the ongoing marginalization of Christianity in Britain. With these kinds of rulings, she said, it is clear that “some people are more equal than others.”
Mrs. Bull told the Christian Institute in September, that they came to the decision to sell as “a gradual process”. “We just noticed more and more that we couldn’t make the mortgage repayments” she said.
“Last winter was terrible. We were actually shivering and were hungry. We are coming towards next winter and dreading it. In 2013, two people who worked all their lives at this have ended up cold and hungry. It’s not right.”
She described the loss of their home and business as being like a “death in the family”. “I never thought it would end like this. We are not facing the future with any real enthusiasm.”
Ping!
The people who are trying to eliminate Christianity from this country are winning.
As the West re-embraces its former pagan ways, those who follow Jesus should expect things to get worse.
Even the broken shards of Christendom, of a shared culture founded on Judeo-Christian morality, are now swept away, and a totalitarian pagan ideology will replace it and be forced upon us.
They’ve infiltrated the gov’t, courts, education etc, and made their perverted, deviant agenda primary over Christianity and everything else. They’re way beyond “equal rights”, now.
This happened in the UK, not the USA.
The "gay lobby" seeks to utterly ruin anyone who opposes it.
But it will be coming here in about 2 years time. Look at what happened with the photographer that refused to take pictures at a Gay wedding, or the bakery that refused top make a cake for a gay couple.
Turnabout to such oppression would be fair play. To start with, the homosexuals who began this torment should be refused any form of support or service from other Christians, *not* on the grounds that they are homosexuals, but that they are “vexatious litigants”, and providing them any product or service would expose the provider to lawsuit.
Vexatious litigation is recognized by the UK courts based on *their* decisions, so it would be interesting to see if a lawsuit based on “protective refusal” of goods or services based on “the fear of vexatious litigation” would work.
Christianity is an alternative life style. As such, it should receive equal protection from discrimination.
It will happen here too. Whether it’s photographers in New Mexico or bakers in Oregon, businesses are being destroyed by the same forces in play in Britain.
Based on previous rulings, is there any reason to think Anthony Kennedy will put a stop to it? It’s more likely he will author decisions like this one from Britain.
They're creating a spiritual vacuum that Islam is filling. As they are being stoned to death after shariah law is imposed, Britain's homosexuals will pine for the days when the country was still Christian.
Faggies are sooooooo tolerant of the beliefs of others......
Wouldn’t visit UK for anything. Complete waste of time.
Their only option here is passive aggression. Let them stay, but make a lot of racket 24/7, disconnect the hot water heater, forget to change the sheets and serve them a nasty breakfast.
Good people need to start getting a whole lot smarter about how they deny goods and services to people. And the 97% needs to start boycotting the 3%--and all left-wing businesses. If leftists don't have money, they can't sue.
Bed and Breakfast is a business where the people live in that home and welcome guests .
Guests who practice perversions are not welcome in my home and I can see that they are not welcome at these peoples home either.
If My son cam home with a homosexual he would no longer be welcome in my home. Unless he came alone. I would not allow perversion to be practiced in my home nor should these people be forced to.
Yes I realize they opened their home for a business, but they should still have some rights.
Read my tagline.
This nation is failing because we have no common morality.
The new Dark Ages has begun. The lamp stands are being removed from the West and are shedding God’s light on the African continent.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
it’s already here.
instead of a SCOTUS ruling(for now), they’ll just sue people until they’re took broke to fight.
Very sad. There is no good reason for them to have lost their business.
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