DEVOUT CHRISTIAN hotel owners who refused to allow a gay couple to share a double room have insisted at the appeal court today that they should have been allowed to impose the ban.
Peter and Hazel Bull refused to allow Martyn Hall and his civil partner, Steven Preddy, to stay in a double room at their hotel in Marazion, Cornwall.
Earlier this year a judge at Bristol county court ruled the Bulls had acted unlawfully and ordered them to pay £3,600 (€4,189) compensation to the men.
Challenging the ruling at the appeal court in London, the Bulls argued they did not wish to undermine or disrespect Mr Hall and Mr Preddy, who are from Bristol.
James Dingemans QC, for the Bulls, told three appeal judges that Judge Andrew Rutherford at Bristol “erred in failing to balance the respective rights in this case”.
He said the Bulls believed that “unmarried sexual behaviour was wrong” but were not prejudiced against gay people.
Mr Dingemans said the law should be capable of accommodating Mr Hall and Mr Preddy’s rights under equality legislation and the Bulls’ rights to beliefs about sex before marriage.
He said: “[The Bulls] have prevented hundreds of unmarried couples sharing double beds. [Their] beliefs may be considered outdated, uneconomic for those operating a private hotel, but, we respectfully submit, they are entitled to manifest those beliefs.”
He said the Bulls had an “absolute right” to believe that “unmarried sexual behaviour is wrong” and a “qualified right” to “manifest that belief”.
Peter Bull (72) and Hazel Bull (67) were in court yesterday for the start of the appeal hearing.
The website to the couple’s hotel, Chymorvah, still features a note: “We have few rules, but please note that as Christians we have a deep regard for marriage (being the union of one man to one woman for life to the exclusion of all others). Therefore, although we extend to all a warm welcome to our home, our double-bedded accommodation is not available to unmarried couples. Thank you.”
The hearing continues. – (Guardian service)