Leicestershire Tory candidate's sympathy for B&B owner in gay rights storm

“I'm sorry that you're offended by the comparison that i made. Drug addicts are people too aren't they?. Or do you consider them beneath you? Anyway the point is this. If you want to be accepted for who you are and what you believe. Then you should also accept who other people are and their beliefs. Who's right? Who's wrong? Neither is the answer to that. I'm not a christian, However i do believe in god and i do believe in free will. That was a gift we were given. Does that mean that every choice we make in life, is the correct one? Peace and love.”

“David writes: "You don't choose what race you're born as. However you do choose to engage in homosexuality. It goes against natures intention. I see it a bit like addiction, it began with a choice then became a lifestyle, a habit, a disorder."

************
Response:
************

Thank you for such an ugly and offensive comparison ¿ homosexuality compared to drug addiction. Whether or not you intended it to be so, this comparison is most offensive to gay people. I have testified to the fact that it was never a choice for me, and I have been ignored. But as for your statement that gay people should be discriminated against ¿ if that is the case, why not discriminate against Christians or Muslims? After all, people choose their religion ¿ people convert from one religion to another all the time. In fact, Christianity places great emphasis on ¿free will¿ ¿ so should a B&B owner be allowed to discriminate against religious people, including Christians?

PHILIP CHANDLER”

“Everything in nature has a purpose. It didn't happen by accident. The sexual differences I.E man and woman is solely for the purpose of procreation. To keep our species alive. The pleasure part of it was intended to make sure that we keep procreating, else we'd become extinct! When i compared addiction to homosexuality, it was because i have a very deep understanding of the brain and addiction and also behaviour. A lot of addicts claim to have felt different at an early age and searched for something, They thought they had found it in drugs! I hope that i didn't offend anyone in the gay community with my comments. It wasn't my intention. My intention was to get my point across that i believe that the B+B proprietor should have a choice just like you have a choice to believe and do as you wish in your personal lives. I also think political correctness went mad a long time ago.”

“If he doesn't want people who engage in homosexual behaviour, i think he has that right. It's nothing like discriminating by race. You don't choose what race you're born as. However you do choose to engage in homosexuality. It goes against natures intention. I see it a bit like addiction, it began with a choice then became a lifestyle, a habit, a disorder. No one would complain if they had turned a heroin addict or crack addict away would they? I think not.”

“The Overlord writes: "An individual cannot change thier [sic] origins of birth, sexual preferences are lifestyle choices."

************
Response:
************

This is utter rubbish. What evidence do you adduce to support this claim?

As an openly gay man, I can testify as to the fact that sexual orientation is not ¿chosen¿ ¿ I did not wake up one morning and ¿decide¿ to be gay (yes, the word is ¿gay¿). When I was a very young boy, I knew that there was something profoundly different about myself, but I did not understand the nature of that difference until puberty, at which times hormones started flowing and my sexual orientation became obvious to me. Nobody ¿chooses¿ a sexual orientation which results in that person becoming the target of sustained and unremitting abuse ¿ abuse which is all too frequently camouflaged by religious dogma, and supported by ignorant politicians out to make points before elections.

I challenge ¿The Overlord¿ to furnish evidence supporting his claim.


PHILIP CHANDLER”

“Those who believe that B&B owners should have the right to discriminate against gay couples on the grounds of religious belief fail to understand that, as a society, we have balanced the rights of small business owners against the government's compelling interest in stamping out the cancer of discrimination, and have concluded that the latter is more compelling than the former. In short, we have decided, as a society, that the right to equal treatment under the law trumps the individual religious expressive rights of B&B owners (and other similarly-situated entities and persons). This is a matter of social policy, as reflected by the laws of the land.

When one enters the realm of commerce, whether that is by renting out rooms in a B&B or by opening a supermarket, one loses certain rights which would otherwise attach. This principle is not unique to the law in the UK; this principle also applies in the US, where Congress may regulate interstate commerce. It is one thing to assert a right to privacy in your own home; but when you rent rooms of that home out to other people, you lose that right as a matter of course (how ¿private¿ is your home when you rent out rooms to strangers?). If you cannot accept this principle, then you should not own and operate a B&B.

If you believe that the owners of a B&B should be able to turn away gay couples, what distinction do you draw between discrimination in this context and discrimination against Jewish people, or against Muslim people, or against unmarried couples?

My concern is that the statement made by Grayling is merely a reflection of the old, anti-gay Tory agenda, waiting in the wings for a resurrection.

PHILIP CHANDLER”

“You are all missing the point.

If Labour go ahead with the NI rise then many business will close.

Also, the duty on pertol has been put up so much that people can't afford to travel and stay in hotels or B&Bs.

Once you die, then gay or straight you will face a death tax.

GET RID OF BROWN”

“I dont think the argument that a business owner can do what they want because its their business really washes. That argument would justify the return of "no irish, no blacks, no dogs" signs - or maybe a private bus company might decide that its black passengers had to sit at the back of a bus?
If you run a business then you have some responsibilities to the community at large - if the community at large deem that homosexuality is acceptable, then you have to offer your service to homosexuals, unless an individual is not respecting your service or contract - but not because of that persons sexual orientation. Its fine for an individual to have bigotted opinions, we are all free to have our opinions - but its not fine to act on them.”

“When I was a teenager in the 1970s it was perfectly acceptable for people of the same sex to sleep in the same bed. There was no assumption that this indicated a homosexual or lesbian relationship. Older family members often arranged for me to sleep in a double bed with my girl friends at their houses when we went to stay. They would have been absolutely horrified at the thought of me sleeping with a young man unless we were married. At that time heterosexual relationships outside marriage were taboo.

How do BnB owners know that two people of the same sex are a couple or just friends on holiday together sharing a room? What business is it of the proprietor anyway?”

“Freethinker1 I applaud you - can I vote for you in the upcoming election?! :-)”