Couple Sues a Vermont Inn for Rejecting Gay Wedding

Source: The New York Times

BOSTON — A lesbian couple is suing a Vermont inn, claiming it refused to host their fall wedding reception because of their sexual orientation.

Kate Baker and Ming Linsley filed the suit on Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court, accusing the Wildflower Inn of Lyndonville of abruptly turning them away after learning they are lesbians.

They claim the inn violated Vermont’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, which prohibits inns, hotels, motels and other establishments with five or more rooms from turning away patrons based on sexual orientation. The law makes an exemption for religious organizations.

Twenty-one other states and the District of Columbia have similar laws. Greg Johnson, a law professor at Vermont Law School, said the suit could set a precedent as more states legalize same-sex marriage. Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in six states and the District of Columbia, all of which protect gay men and lesbians in their public-accommodations laws.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20vermont.html

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(deleted comments due to misjudgment)

As to your other argument, what if it was an African-American or mixed-race couple? Same standards on selection?

This is the same thing. The religion analogy has nothing to do with it.

I was comparing oranges and pumpkins. A hotel is not like an exclusive country club, for instance.

In this case, the law specifically prohibits this kind of discrimination. As another poster pointed out, allowing this behavior would be tantamount to allowing the exclusion of non-whites and mixed couples. The suit will be successful, of course. But I doubt it will go to trial. The innkeeper's attorney would be guilty of malpractice if he didn't instruct his client to settle.

I think they might win this one....

The current lawsuit alleges that in October Ms. Linsley’s mother, Channie Peters, spoke with the events coordinator at the inn, which has 24 rooms and is on 570 acres in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, according to its Web site.

Ms. Peters said the coordinator referred to a bride and a groom while discussing the bridal suite; Ms. Peters said she corrected the woman and they continued their conversation.

Shortly after the conversation, Ms. Peters received an e-mail with the subject line “bad news,” according to the lawsuit, and was told the innkeepers did not allow same-sex wedding receptions at the site.

“After our conversation,” the e-mail reads, according to the lawsuit, “I checked with my innkeepers and unfortunately due to their personal feelings, they do not host gay receptions at our facility.”

And the Vermont Human Rights Commission is jumping in. Bob Appel, the director, does not mess around.

wedding coordinator completely under the bus. "Oh, we never SAID that, the coordinator misunderstood what we said/made assumptions that were false; BUT....we're planning on redecorating at the time they wanted their ceremony..." or words to that effect.

Let the back-pedalling begin!! It'll be interesting to see them lie on the stand--that is, if they don't settle.