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A B&B in Cookham west of London recently turned away a same sex couple who booked to share a double room. Were they right or wrong?
So what is the law and where do you stand?
Let's start with the law:
It is illegal and has been since the 2006 Equality Act was put on the statute books to discriminate on the grounds of peoples sexual orientation and the current issue mirrors a Scottish incident over two/three years ago.
This incident is described by the police, and yes they are involved, as a 'homophobic incident' and I suspect that while a prosecution will not automatically follow in the first instance a formal warning will.
If the B&B Owners involved in this incident are classified and graded by any organisation their action in this instance will have put them in default of their agreement with their classification organisation i.e. VisitBritain, AA etc. Almost the first, if not the first rule, when you sign up to any external organisation who help promote your business is that you guarantee to operate 'within the law'. Clearly this couple did not. Their membership then of any such organisation is null and void.
So by refusing this same sex couple accommodation in a double room these B&B owners have:
- Opened themselves up to a minimum of a Formal Police Caution and at worst actual prosection.
- Denial of membership of any agency they use to help promote their business.
I suggest that these are quite serious issues.
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If you let one bed for one night and receive payment for it, YOU ARE IN BUSINESS AND BUSINESS RULES APPLY
Where do you stand?
What about the argument that 'this is my home and I will decide who stays and on what terms.'
I think this was resolved with the enaction of the Disability Discrimination Act where business owners are not allowed to discriminate on the grounds of 'disability'.
In the many debates I had with Whitehall on this matter it quickly became clear that the old rules for operating a B&B were rapidly disappearing. The six bed rule allowing smaller B&B owners to operate without having to jump through some of the hoops that larger businesses do is to all intents and purposes dead and buried.
The Government has decreed that 'If you let one bed for one night and receive payment for it, YOU ARE IN BUSINESS AND BUSINESS RULES APPLY.'
For smaller B&B owners who have strong feelings on this matter you need to be aware that you are breaking the law if you refuse guests like the B&B owner here. I think it would be incorrect of me to suggest otherwise. If this matters raises issues for you, eventally you will have to make a choice between your business and your principles.
For some I see some sincere soul searching is on the cards.
You can add to the debate here
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