U.K. Court Upholds Discrimination Claim Against Innkeepers

British innkeepers who refused to let a gay couple share a room in their guesthouse have lost an appeal in their discrimination case and ordered to pay a fine.

Husband-and-wife innkeepers Peter and Hazelmary Bull will have to pay 3,600 pounds ($5,800) to Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, the Court of Appeal in London ruled last week, according to Religion News Service. The Bulls had been convicted of antigay discrimination for telling Hall and Preddy they could not share a double room at Chymorvah House, located in the Cornwall region of England.

The Bulls and their lawyer argued that the innkeepers' policy was based on their Christian belief that sex outside marriage is a sin, and that they applied it equally to gay and straight people. They claimed their religious freedom had been violated, but a panel of three judges upheld their conviction and the damages. London's Guardian quotes one judge as saying, "I do not consider that the appellants face any difficulty in manifesting their religious beliefs. They are merely prohibited from so doing in the commercial context they have chosen."

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