Did she express any fear, let alone an irrational fear? Again, we see the word homophobia misapplied.'She said she was sorry and she was polite in a cold way and she was not abusive, so we asked our money back and she gave it to us.'
He added: 'We were very shocked, and of course angry, that it happened. Neither of us has ever experienced homophobia before and I have been out since 1974.'
[More after the jump.]
'We felt we were treated like lepers and not fit to be under the same roof as her.'She probably wouldn't let her daughter's boyfriend stay in the same room as her daughter. Does that mean she doesn't think her daughter is fit to be under the same roof as her?
'We have stayed in plenty of guest houses in Britain and abroad and have never had a problem.'So why the need to stay in this one? You got your money back, and were free to pursue other accommodations, rewarding somebody else with your money.
'I don't see why I should change my mind and my beliefs I've held for years just because the government should force it on me,' she said. 'I am not a hotel, I am a guest house and this is a private house.'Unfortunately, freedom of association, freedom of conscience, and property rights go out the window in favor of protecting the feelings of certain people. If a Muslim were to turn me away because I am a Christian, I would simply go elsewhere. If a feminist were to turn me away because I'm a man, I would simply go elsewhere.
What if he/she offered them two rooms, or even two rooms for the price of one? The objection here is obviously to condoning a behavior. Them sleeping together.
ReplyDeleteIf a unwed couple came to the House and wanted a room its easy to see a Christian say no. It happens all the time. It used to be a regular occurance for unwed couples to sign in together at hotels under a single name, pretending they were married.
This is one important example of how individual and religious libert is subverted under the banner of gay "rights".
What I can understand is how people can argue that this is discrimination on anything but behavior.
Lots of people forbid unmarried couples to sleep together under their roof. TO force this innkeeper to give up their livlyhood or give up their faith is droconian.
I hope you follow this case.
In this case, she did not have a second room to offer, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteYou know, you're actually right. Homophobia is a grossly overused term, in that I don't think all these conservatives are actually rabidly terrified of gay men and lesbians. They're just strongly partial to their own group, race, religion, sexual orientation, or politics and intolerant towards those who differ.
ReplyDeleteA strongly stereotypical thing to say. Who is really to say this business owner was intolerant of how others lived their own lives. As noted above, they could easily have been heterosexual and still turned away simply because they do not condone (which is the other extreme) from intolerance.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean, "they do not condone from intolerance?"
ReplyDeleteActually those parenthesis were closed to quickly.
ReplyDeleteI'd render it more plainly as, "because they do not condone (which is the other extreme from intolerance)."
Essentially people are tolerant of things they don't condone. I find value in that humanitarian meaning of tolerance and allowance, and I believe it is undermined when tacitly we start saying one can only be tolerant of what one condones. Which is the same thing as saying you have to condone what you tolerate.
Emily: They're just strongly partial to their own group, race, religion, sexual orientation, or politics and intolerant towards those who differ.
ReplyDeleteEmily tries to denigrate all disagreement as being merely an irrational fear of difference. If one disagrees with segregation, for example, one simply fears racial supremacists because they are different.
Emily admits that a same-sex couple "differs" from a marriage, therefore she should not be surprised that it should be treated differently and called something different. That is not an irrational and fear driven conclusion.
There are different family forms adults may choose. Single parenthood and polyamorous communes, for example, are family forms adults can choose. That does not mean that all different family forms are equally ideal for children or for the societies in which those family forms operate.