Campaigners' fury at refusal to outlaw hotel ban on gays

[IndianaGreen]

Campaigners' fury at refusal to outlaw hotel ban on gays

Government faces first defeat as more than 100 MPs join leading figures in calling for new law to end discrimination in tourist industry

By Steve Bloomfield

Published: 23 October 2005

The Government is facing its first Commons defeat since coming to power in 1997 as more than 100 MPs threaten to force it to ban homophobic discrimination in hotels.

Gay figures, including the comedian Julian Clary and the actor Sir Ian McKellen, senior politicians and gay rights campaigners have attacked the Government for refusing to ban what they see as "outrageous" and "disgraceful" bigotry.

Last week, The Independent on Sunday highlighted the case of David Allard and Bryn Hughes, a couple from Basingstoke, who had been refused a double room at a guesthouse. VisitBritain, the tourist board, decided to review its code of conduct but it remains legal for hoteliers to refuse a room on the basis of sexuality.

Television presenters Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan and business figures, including the former chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Ivan Massow, have backed the campaign to change the law. So have Labour figures such as former cabinet minister Chris Smith and Lord (Waheed) Alli.

The brutal killing of 24-year-old Jody Dobrowski on Clapham Common last week added to the clamour for a change in the law. Lord Alli argued that a failure to end homophobia in the goods and service sectors would reinforce discrimination against lesbians and gay men in wider society.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article321613.ece

[niyad]

1. I thought this sort of ignorant and hateful bigotry was primarily a

function of the homophobic xian right in this country.

[saltpoint]

2. If he isn't too awfully busy licking Bush's boots next week --

-- perhaps Tony Blair could be bothered to publicly condemn discrimination and bigotry in any form in the United Kingdom.

It's about time he weighed in on the side of compassion and clarity for a change.