"Family Friendly Inn" Not Friendly to All Families

[GeoBQn]

The owners of the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville, VT decided not to allow their inn to be used as a reception for a lesbian couple. This was a violation of Vermont law, which does not allow public accommodations without official religious ties to deny goods and services based on customers' sexual orientation. The couple sued and won, forcing the owners to pay $10,000 to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and $2,000 into a trust for the couple.

The owners are pinging my fundie-dar. They have 8 children and got legal representation from the Alliance Defending Freedom. They are also no longer hosting weddings of any kind at the inn. I sure hope that giving up hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue is worth it to defend their bigotry.

http://jezebel.com/5937548/family-frien ... ian-couple

[wtfrenchtoast]

You know...I don't understand this. I mean, even Chick Fil A doesn't ban gay people from eating their food. Why? Because all they really care about at the end of the day is the bottom line. I know for a fact, being that I'm in school for event management, that weddings can be a major source of income for a small inn like that, especially with food and beverage. So they decide that instead of sucking it up and letting everyone use their facilities, they're going to shut down the whole thing as some point of pride. Well, I hope they enjoy all that lost revenue and business. They probably rented out at least some rooms in the inn for every wedding for out-of-town guests, in addition to the reception space. Well now that revenue is gone too. I hope all the competing inns and hotels around them are really loving the free business they're getting from simply not being assholes. I mean really, they didn't even have to attend the reception! Just let the lesbian couple use it, sit back, and take the money. And keep being bigots in private. But I guess it is good that their attitudes are out in the open now.

Ranty ranty rant. Don't mind me.

[nokidsmom]

You know...I don't understand this. I mean, even Chick Fil A doesn't ban gay people from eating their food. Why? Because all they really care about at the end of the day is the bottom line. I know for a fact, being that I'm in school for event management, that weddings can be a major source of income for a small inn like that, especially with food and beverage. So they decide that instead of sucking it up and letting everyone use their facilities, they're going to shut down the whole thing as some point of pride. Well, I hope they enjoy all that lost revenue and business. They probably rented out at least some rooms in the inn for every wedding for out-of-town guests, in addition to the reception space. Well now that revenue is gone too. I hope all the competing inns and hotels around them are really loving the free business they're getting from simply not being assholes. I mean really, they didn't even have to attend the reception! Just let the lesbian couple use it, sit back, and take the money. And keep being bigots in private. But I guess it is good that their attitudes are out in the open now.

Ranty ranty rant. Don't mind me.

Wonder why they even bother to be in business if they are willing to take this much of a financial hit in the name of bigotry. They have been fined over this, stopped a major flow of current and future revenue to their business, and literally have handed that revenue over to their competitors.

[doggie]

[quote="GeoBQnThey have 8 children and got legal representation from the Alliance Defending Freedom. They are also no longer hosting weddings of any kind at the inn. I sure hope that giving up hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue is worth it to defend their bigotry.

http://jezebel.com/5937548/family-frien ... ian-couple

[ElphabaGalinda]

They obviously care more about their hatred than their business. I'm glad the couple won and this kind of discrimination won't be allowed. I wonder if this Inn's fundie-ish ownership was known before, but they may have kept their bigotry to themselves previously. I hope the couple in question had a lovely wedding somewhere else.

[wtfrenchtoast]

If I were a competing hotel this would make my day. I already know what I would have done: reach out to the couple and offer them my space completely free of charge. Other gay couples and allies would probably fall over themselves to wed at the hotel in support.

[synchroswimr]

If I were a competing hotel this would make my day. I already know what I would have done: reach out to the couple and offer them my space completely free of charge. Other gay couples and allies would probably fall over themselves to wed at the hotel in support.

Yup

[ILoveJellybeans]

Theyre losing out because of their outdated opinions and bigotry.

I dont understand why anyone would start a business if they cant cope with being non discriminatory in their service.

[Sola]

There was a similar case over here in the UK. A bed and breakfast hotel which marketed one of their rooms as a 'honeymoon' room for newly weds, refused a gay couple who had just had a civil partnership. The couple sued, the B&B lost.

[PennySycamore]

We might have considered the inn at one time when we go to my daughter's college graduation next May. It's been on my shit list every since I heard that they refused to host the lesbian couple's reception. I'm glad the couple won a judgement against the inn. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of other quaint places to stay in that part of the Northeast Kingdom, but we'll manage to find rooms for our family -all 11 of us. I can't imagine my daughter's older sisters, their husbands and kids will want to miss her graduation.

The Wildfower Inn does/did have this huge neon cross on a hillside that most locals consider a real eyesore. It also violates ordinances about signage. I don't know if it's still there.

[deelaem]

We might have considered the inn at one time when we go to my daughter's college graduation next May. It's been on my shit list every since I heard that they refused to host the lesbian couple's reception. I'm glad the couple won a judgement against the inn. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of other quaint places to stay in that part of the Northeast Kingdom, but we'll manage to find rooms for our family -all 11 of us. I can't imagine my daughter's older sisters, their husbands and kids will want to miss her graduation.

The Wildfower Inn does/did have this huge neon cross on a hillside that most locals consider a real eyesore. It also violates ordinances about signage. I don't know if it's still there.

A neon cross?! Wow, all they need is a butter Jesus and a passion play, and it's fundie Vegas! Yee-hah!

[YPestis]

Weddings are such huge businesses to hotels that I'm kind of surprised they fought this. And now they won't do any weddings it seems. From the looks of things, they may be fundie-lite. Their website mentions children in respectable colleges and majoring in real areas of study. They may be fundie Catholics (from hints on their website) but it's still stupid to turn down a lesbian reception. What's next? Reception of second marriages? People who've used birth control? The church says a lot about marriage and reproduction. You can't pick and choose which sin you will accept into your business.....

[She Who Laughs]

There's actually more to this story than what you are commenting on... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162- ... e-lawsuit/

"A former Wildflower employee sparked the lawsuit when she falsely claimed that the inn would not allow a same-sex reception," the alliance said in a statement. "The inn's actual business practice, which the Vermont Human Rights Commission approved in 2005, was to honestly disclose its owners' religious convictions to potential customers while agreeing to serve everyone in accordance with the law."

Robert Appel, the commission's executive director, said that in the Linsley case and in a 2005 case, the innkeepers said they would host same-sex wedding receptions, but expressed their opposition to same-sex marriages.

He said that in the 2005 case, the commission found that the inn had not illegally discriminated against the couple. But the commission decided to join the ACLU in its lawsuit last year.

[Gil]

There's actually more to this story than what you are commenting on... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162- ... e-lawsuit/

Look who comes crawling out of the woodwork! You are responsible for your employees' conduct.

[salsa]

all they need is a butter Jesus and a passion play, and it's fundie Vegas! Yee-hah!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :clap:

[She Who Laughs]

Look who comes crawling out of the woodwork! You are responsible for your employees' conduct.

The Inn should sue the former employee (I would) since she made the false claim so she could redirect the couple to use her private business service. Sounds like the employee was pretty deceitful and trying to drum up business for her own business. And yes, a company is responsible for its employee's conduct, but if I were the Wildflower Inn I'd be suing the former employee to recoup damages or at least do as much damage as I could.

An attorney for the inn said a former employee falsely claimed the inn would not allow a same-sex reception and then offered the potential clients event services through her personal business.

[Gil]

The Inn should sue the former employee (I would) since she made the false claim so she could redirect the couple to use her private business service. Sounds like the employee was pretty deceitful and trying to drum up business for her own business. And yes, a company is responsible for its employee's conduct, but if I were the Wildflower Inn I'd be suing the former employee to recoup damages or at least do as much damage as I could.

This quote is not in the above link. Please cite where you found it.

ETA: And if this were my business and that were the case, I would be doing everything possible, immediately, to rectify and make up for their dreadful treatment. I doubt the Wildflower management did.

[weirdghostboo]

That's horrible. Glad the couple sued.

And She Who Laughs? You're just an ignorant troll. For those other members of FJ, shall we open up a thread like we did with Genie in the Quiver Full of Chatter?

[She Who Laughs]

http://newportvermontdailyexpress.com/c ... ation-suit

ETA: fuck you weirdghostboo

[weirdghostboo]

http://newportvermontdailyexpress.com/content/wildflower-inn-settles-lesbian-discrimination-suit

ETA: fuck you weirdghostboo

What, for pointing out the obvious? That you're a troll? I would continue feeding you but I don't want to get bitten or destroy FJ.

[PennySycamore]

ETA: And if this were my business and that were the case, I would be doing everything possible, immediately, to rectify and make up for their dreadful treatment. I doubt the Wildflower management did.

I don't think the Wildflower management did either, Gil. I'll have to ask my daughter what she's heard about this. She has a great many friends in the LGBT community at her school.

[Terrie]

The thing is that if it was an employee mistake, it would have never come this far as a legal issue. It's an after-the-fact excuse, nothing more.

[She Who Laughs]

You guys just like to cry troll whenever someone doesn't agree with everything and say all the right things according to a bunch of left-wing, liberal, nut-job feminists.

[She Who Laughs]

The thing is that if it was an employee mistake, it would have never come this far as a legal issue. It's an after-the-fact excuse, nothing more.

No, it's just some lesbians who saw a chance to sue and make some money and the business owners didn't have the financial resources to fight the ACLU, so they decided to cut their losses and settle.

[weirdghostboo]

Guys, I need some help. I'm helping my friend find nail polish for a character he's going to be playing (Angel in RENT) and we know it has to be blue, but we don't know which shade of blue to do! Any suggestions?