Gay couple awarded $4500 in damages from homophobic bed-and-breakfast owners [View all]

[reflection]

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/owners%20ordered%20compensate%20couple%20were%20denied%20room/6956914/story.html

A retired Grand Forks couple who would not allow two gay men to stay in their bed and breakfast has to pay the men more than $4,500, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ruled.

Les and Susan Molnar, who owned the now-closed River-bed Bed and Breakfast, held "sincere religious beliefs" opposing same-sex relation-ships when they cancelled reservations for Shaun Eadie and Brian Thomas in July 2009 after learning the couple was gay, tribunal member Enid Marion said in a decision this week.

The Molnars argued they had merely banned Eadie and Thomas from their home, where they conduct prayer meetings and feel responsible for the behaviour of any guests.

But Marion disagreed, finding the bed and breakfast room was separate from the Molnars' personal living space and was operated more like a hotel or motel.

Sorry folks, if your home is also your business, you've got to abide by those pesky discrimination laws.