Two Christian guesthouse owners, who were penalised for their rooming policy based on their Christian beliefs about marriage, lost their appeal in the UK Supreme Court in early December.
Civil partners Martin Hall and Steven Preddy took legal action against owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull after they refused to offer them a double room in accordance with their ‘married couples only’ policy. The policy had been applied consistently to both unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples.
The Bulls are reported to be selling their business after having great difficulty heating their home, and even eating properly, last winter due to the fine imposed on them by the courts. Reactions were mixed in the general media, but one hardened journalist, who does not share the Bulls’ beliefs, thinks it is a shame they have been taken to court by ‘equality campaigners’.
Rebecca McQuillan, senior features writer at The Herald newspaper in Scotland, wrote that at first she thought they were just bigots, but Peter and Hazelmary Bull’s sincerity made her realise bigot was entirely the wrong word. She said that despite her preconceptions that they would have thinly disguised homophobic views, she was surprised to find herself feeling sorry for them. She saw them not as full of self-righteous anger about homosexuality, but a quietly spoken couple with a set of sincerely held religious beliefs and a straightforward interpretation of the Bible.
She concluded: ‘A gay friend of mine commented to me that if he had been visiting this B&B with his partner he would have respected the couple’s views by asking for a twin room instead’.
