Swedish restaurant owner convicted of discrimination after forcing lesbian couple to leave

Aziz Cakir, a Stockholm, Sweden, restaurant owner who kicked out a lesbian couple from his establishment after he'd seen them kissing, was found guilty Monday of unlawful discrimination by an appeals court and ordered to pay one of the women 50,000 kronor (U.S. $7,130) in damages. Cakir had been acquitted by a lower court last year. On July 4, 2003, Cakir asked Anna Fernstroem and Susanne Gustavsson to leave his restaurant because they were homosexual, the prosecutor claimed. Cakir told police that he didn't accept anybody "making out" in his restaurant, regardless of their sexual orientation. The prosecutor said she believed the women were targeted because they were lesbian. "This is fantastic," Gustavsson told Swedish Radio. "This verdict shows that we have the same right to show each other affection and love as heterosexuals [do] in our society." Cakir said he had not yet decided whether to appeal the sentence to the Swedish supreme court. (AP)