Christian Institute: We're Not The BNP At Prayer Honest!

From Christian Institute's laugh-a-minute website.
Fagburn loves the idea this implies that CI think this racist neo-Nazi shitbag has finally gone too far.
A plague on both your houses!

Thought For the Day: Evan Davis

"I think we have to tolerate other people's feelings. In the great spectrum of things, I don't think discrimination against gay men, or being barred from bed and breakfasts or pubs, is very prevalent.
"Put it this way: compared to most of the gay people I know, I am way to the other end of the spectrum in believing that people have a right to be bigoted. It would be unfair if gay people were denied legal rights that other people have but my libertarian self is big enough to say that there are some rights there. I don't know where we draw that line but people do have a right to say what they want happening in their house.
"[He is visibly conflicted on the point, aware of his own privilege. He doesn't want to be an] Uncle Tom who doesn't know you're a victim.
"But there's a statistical problem that arises here. It's the Ali G line: 'Is it cos I is black?' Now supposing you are black, or gay, or short, or some status that is perceived as disadvantageous.
"If you fix upon that status you will then make the statistical mistake of viewing the random knocks that anybody has in their life and assuming they're because you are black or gay."

Evan Davis, interviewed in The Evening Standard.
Philosophy as economics - Get 'er!

• Evan Davis presents Panorama: Breaking Into Britain on BBC1 tonight at 9pm.

Thought For The Day: Richard Littlejohn

"As an early and consistent champion of civil partnerships, I can’t get too excited about the announcement that gay and lesbian couples will soon be able to get hitched in church.
"I would, however, have thought that it was a matter for the church, not the Government.
"Meanwhile, in a reaction to the story about the boarding house which turned away a gay couple, a hotelier in Hampshire has put up a sign reading: ‘Poofters welcome here!’
"This was sufficient to stir parish councillors into a fit of righteous indignation, claiming that the sign was offensive.
"To whom, I wonder? [Poofters - Fagburn]
"When I lived in trendy Crouch End, North London (before my name came up on the escape committee), there was a gay bar opposite my local which used to advertise ‘Bona Bevvies’ — in deference to Julian and Sandy from Round The Horne.
"It always raised a smile. No one took offence.
"But Mike Sacqui, of the Penny Farthing, in Lyndhurst, also received a visit from the police over his harmless notice.
"Sometimes words fail even me. There’s no limit, is there?
"Now that civil partnerships are being sanctioned in places of worship, how long before some church puts up a poster advertising: ‘Poofters welcome here!’"

Richard Littlejohn, in The Daily Mail.
You couldn't make it up etc etc.
If only words would fail you, Richard...

• The Lyndhurst hotelier claimed his "Poofters welcome here!" sign was an ironic, Little Britain-inspired, pro-gay comment on the Christian hoteliers who were fined for refusing a double room to a gay couple.
And, yes, that's the actual illustration to Richard Littlejohn's column in today's Mail.

The Bulls: No Room For Jesus

A Daily Telegraph reporter bravely goes to visit the B&B of convicted bigots Mr and Mrs Bull down in Cornwall.
"Britain’s most reviled landlady is perched on the edge of her creamy sofa with its plump duck egg blue cushions and lovely matching pouffe. Did I say pouffe? No offence. To anyone. I meant, of course, footstool."
Oh dear...
Hazelmary Bull says she's found some recent online bookings extremely upsetting.
“Name: Jesus Christ; Address: Heaven; Special Dietary Requirements: You disgust me and all decent folk, you foul, foul beings. I hope you go bankrupt as a result of this. You are both vile specimens of humanity and you will go to hell.”

The Bulls: A Sense Of Perspective

"No one has tied me to a stake and set light to me yet, so we have to put this in perspective."

Hazelmary Bull loses all sense of perspective in a fawning Daily Mail profile; 'The Christian hotelier found guilty of gay bias looks set to lose her home and asks: So who's really being persecuted?'

Daily Mail: Mr & Mr Smith

'Isn't that romantic, George, dear? Mr and Mr Smith would like the bridal suite.'
The Daily Mail cartoonist, Mac.
Interesting that for once gay men aren't caricatured as effete pansies, but big hulking brutes scaring those nice tiny Christians...

Edit: I've replaced the original image with a higher definition scan taken from the blog Angry Mob, who points out Mac appears to have drawn a swastika tattoo on one of the mens' forearms - nice touch!

B&B Bigots: "We're not prejudiced"

The Daily Mail devoted a devoted Hello-style double page spread to leading Christian mentalists, Peter and Hazelmary Bull; 'We're not prejudiced - just two Christians who passionately believe in the sanctity of marriage'
No, you're prejudiced.
As for being sued simply for upholding their Christian beliefs, Hazelmary says: ‘Christians are increasingly marginalised in British society, and what we have here is a head-on collision between the conflicting beliefs of Christians and those of homosexuals. Why should the rights of gay people take precedence over ours?
It seems to us that this new law has not been very carefully thought through, and I think there are going to be huge ramifications, no matter how this all pans out. People will not change their views because the law has changed.’
As noted on here before it looks like this is the first stage in a battle to overturn the gay equality laws - or "Christian discrimination" as the Mail laughably calls it - by some people in the Conservative party.
Here's yesterday's Daily Mail; "Mixed-race adoption rules must be changed say ministers... but they duck fears over Christian discrimination"
Fagburn is loving the accompanying photo of the Bulls drinking tea - they think they're people!

B&B Ban: Cornish Patsies

The case of that awful old pair of anti-gay Christian bigots who run that hotel in wherever it was they filmed The Whicker Man has finally come to court.
Several newspapers today had variations on this titular theme from the Telegraph; 'Hotel owners 'were set up' over gay couple - A homosexual couple suing the Christian owners of a seaside hotel may have booked a double room as a ''set-up'', a court heard yesterday'
Stonewall say they had been in contact with Mr and Mrs Bull telling them they were breaking the equality laws by not allowing gay couples to share a bed, but the booking made by Martyn Preddy and Steven Hall was made independently.
Even if they had been involved in a "set-up" Stonewall would only have been doing their job.
The far more interesting point about this case is not; ''Gay ban hotel owners to claim they were set up', as the ever politically illiterate Pink News put it.
It is that some leading figures in the Conservative government - most notably chairman [sic] Sayeeda Warsi, and former shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling - have been itching to find a case to use to overturn Labour's gay (and other) equality laws.
Here be it!
Even if the court rules against them this will not be the end of this "religious discrimination" farce.
Don't say I didn't try and warn you.

Update: Judgement has been deferred until after Christmas.

Bed & Breakfast Bans: For The Love Of God

'Christian B&B owners sued for discrimination after refusing to allow gay couple share a double bed'
You may have guessed this is from The Daily Mail.
"The Christian owners of a seaside guesthouse are being sued in a landmark case - for refusing to allow a gay couple to share a double bed.
"Devout Peter and Hazelmary Bull refused to let civil partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy use a double room because it would be ‘an affront to their faith’.
"They are using 2007 Equality Act Regulations to claim up to £5,000 in damages at a landmark case that begins at Bristol County Court next Monday."
As if this isn't awful enough, we learn that Mrs Bull is "a great grandmother" and Mr Bull "works for the RSPB charity".
What heartless bastards would want to affront their values!!!?
Stonewall are backing the Bulls, The Christian Institute the godless Gays.
Are you normal?
You can book a room at the Chyrmorvah House "family hotel" in Cornwall here.
They cook the porridge in the AGA overnight, you know?
Why not give them a call on 01736 716497 and ask if it's okay to stay if you promise not to do any bumming?
Fagburn is tired of repeating arguments against hate-loving bigots like these, beyond the fact that they sound so bonkers they should be sectioned.
As ever there is much truth spoken on the Daily Mail's messageboards;
"Good luck to you, Mr. and Mrs. Bull," writes Gordon from Evesham.
"I hope that your principles and 'rights' triumph over those of two predatory homosexuals.
"It is time that this 'equality' nonsense was put into perspective."
It's certainly something to think about.
Purely in the interests of balance I shall leave you with the thoughts of Annie, from Devon.
"I've stayed here - it's absolutely horrid - they haven't spent a penny on it in years - breakfast was disgusting..... it was a few years ago that I stayed to be fair but I remember clearly saying that we would never ever return. So, gay or not - just don't bother."

This was also a hot topic on The Sun's messageboards today - Fagburn is often pleasantly surprised at how pro-gay comments heavily outweigh phobic ones here.
Several posters pointed out that the hotel's rules would mean they'd turn away Mary and Joseph, as they were an unmarried couple.
But would the Bulls even offer them the stable?

Equality Laws: Bed & Bigotry

In a poll on the website Bed & Breakfast Owner, 13 per cent of respondents said it would be unacceptable for a lesbian or gay couple to share a double bedded room.
Who's going to tell William Hague?