This is beyond stupid. Affordable Suites hotel won't rent to gay couples

[CatWoman]

can you say "discrimination lawsuit"?



http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/30/affordable-suites-hotel/

[helderheid]

1. Well, they just lost my business, a straight married woman.

[BeHereNow]

25. I was just going to post the SAME thing!

Great DU minds think alike.

They won't get my business either.

BHN

[JNelson6563]

48. Same here

We'll sleep in our car before spending a dime there. Assholes.

[mike_c]

2. wtf?

Is it just same sex renters or do they ask "Are you gay?"

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Makes you wonder if they have a gay ID card.

[htuttle]

3. Unfortunately, I don't know if there could be a winning lawsuit about this

Sexual orientation still isn't a "protected category" in most places. It should be, but it's not.

[gatorboy]

Well we couldn't have that.

That would be stepping on certain people's rights to be bigots! :eyes:

[The Doctor.]

39. Right, but

a couple of sisters, brothers, mother/daughter, father/son could probably sue.

I know if someone insinuated that my wife and her sister were lesbians in public, I'd bring suit.

If it were, say, my brother and I, and they made such a statement, there's a very good chance I'd reach across the counter. Not so much at the insinuation that I might be gay (wouldn't be the first time), but just because of their infuriating ignorance and bigotry.

At the very least, they'd be groveling by the time I got done giving them a chewing out of a lifetime.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

4. Well, they just lost about 10% . . .

. . . of potential customers. That's real bright.:dunce:

[gatorboy]

5. So where does it end?

Right now my state is trying to get a bill ready for the '08 elections to ban any gay individual from adopting.

[ulysses]

7. how would they know

that any given individual is gay, unless they're told? Are they planning to ban all single-parent adoptions?

[gatorboy]

10. Yes, apparently so.

Arkansas gay foster ban advances

A bill barring gay and most straight unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children was advanced Monday by a committee of the Arkansas state Senate, the Associated Press reported.

SB 959, by Sen. Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home, was approved by the Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee to go to a Senate floor vote.

Rita Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, called it "a heavy-handed and ill-conceived attempt to do an end run around the Arkansas Supreme Court, which has already struck down a regulation that didn't even go as far as this bill."

In September, the justices overturned a ban on gay foster parents, saying it was improperly established by state policy, rather than by law, and was unsupported by evidence.

[ulysses]

18. let me guess:

Mountain Home, Arkansas, is light on "unwanted" children.

I'm not a violent man, but some days, and some motherfuckers...

[Maraya1969]

49. Can you try and get some material out there about children spending their

entire childhood in foster care???????? Like maybe a commercial with several of them. And telling J.Q Jackass that these kids grow up never having a parent. Do a couple interviews with some of the kids and see how hard it is for all of them.

I read about this group on Fort Myers Florida called "Girls making it on purpose" and one of the things they want for these girls are "Hope Chests" filled with things that girls would get from their mothers if they had one. Little handmade, (or not) doilies or a hand made bead spread and older Katchkeys like little figurines. Anything that could be passed down from mother to daughter or father to daughter.

I just sat down and cried when I read that. And I called my mother (who I just gained a lot of gratitude for) and we are going to get stuff up together.

To keep a child away from a parent because you don't like who the parent has sex with is a sin. These people are not thinking about the benefit of the child. It's alllllll about them.

[Telly Savalas]

20. Polygraph tests.

If you're merely bisexual, they'll let you stay in the hotel, but you don't get the complimentary continental breakfast.

[ulysses]

22. none of the internet kiosk either, one only hopes

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. They are trying that in Kansas too

[Colobo]

6. I didn't even know these hotels existed

[ComerPerro]

15. yeah, never even heard of this chain

[SoCalDem]

8. Um.. my best friend and I share a room when we go to bowling tournaments

Our husbands don't bowl with us, so they don;t get to go to Vegas with us :P

A hotel better NEVER refuse to let us share a room...especially when we rarely are ever IN the damned toom..

[Arkansas Granny]

12. My best friend and I also share a room when we go out of town

to concerts and such. On top of that, our adult daughters sometimes accompany us and we usually book one room with two king beds. Do you suppose they would think we were planning an orgy?

[ComerPerro]

14. they probably think it sounds hot.

[Maraya1969]

50. A thought just popped in my head. It is promoting global warming because

you have to heat or cool two rooms rather than one. An air conditioner uses a lot of energy.

You would never hear of such a thing in Europe where they turn there cars off at red lights and use small cars that don't waste gas. Only in America.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. I just got back from a trip where I shared a room with my best friend

Oh no!! :scared:

[I Have A Dream]

9. I contacted them telling them that I'll no longer rent from them either. n/t

[kestrel91316]

11. Boycott and picket time.

[EFerrari]

13. kestrel, let's have a call in day on Monday.

We can call or email and spread it to our networks.

F7ck these people. Let's get the progressive community on it's feet and on the phone.

They just lost my family's business and we aren't even gay yet. lol

[BeHereNow]

26. I think that is an excellent idea!

Let them know that hetros wont be checking in
anytime soon EITHER.

I'm straight and I can easily take
my ass across the road to accomodations
that don't discriminate against my friends who are gay.

I'll be happy to tell them so too.
I'll be happy to tell them that I plan on telling as
many people as I know not to give them business
too.

BHN

[EFerrari]

30. Good!

:kick:

[Horse with no Name]

16. Well adding them to my lengthy list

of folks I don't care to do business with.

[VP505]

17. Must be

another one of those "special rights" that the Reich wing is always claiming Gays want.:sarcasm:

[ComerPerro]

19. cause God knows you can't let people have sex in a hotel room, right?

[Warren Stupidity]

21. Do they have a GAYDAR at the front desk?

How do they know if you are a gay couple or two people of the same sex sharing a room?

[cboy4]

23. They can file a discrimination lawsuit, but the sad fact is

this corporation may have the law on its side.

In many states, it is legal to discriminate against gay people at all levels, including firing a gay person from a job for simply being gay.

It's outrageous.

[Bitwit1234]

24. I'm confused

How would they know a couple are gay. You mean they don't rent to two men or two women. Or if you are two men or two women you have to say you are gay or straight. It is none of their buisness what you are.

[Olney Blue]

31. Never heard of "Affordable Suites" - is that a national chain?

[Hepburn]

35. I looked it up....and it seems...

it is only in Virginia and North and South Carolina.

http://www.affordablesuites.com/locations.php

[Olney Blue]

36. Thanks, Hepburn.

I don't go to those states often, but this hotel chain will not be getting my business when I do.....

[Forkboy]

32. Yeah,but the frat boy gang bang in room 6 is ok.

:puke:

[nashville_brook]

33. this is why we need anti-discrimination laws --

is there any legal recourse for gay people discriminated against like this? no, not without a law.

[MLFerrell]

34. They just lost my business.

[Vinca]

37. How on earth would they know???????

Aren't people of the same sex allowed to share a room? This is dumb beyond belief.

[sandnsea]

38. Business Freedom is not always right

For everybody who thinks pharmacists and pharmacies should be able to do whatever they want due to their religious beliefs.

[Gelliebeans]

40. Thanks for letting us know

My family and I won't be using their hotels even if it means we have to travel farther or sleep in the car. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

[DubiousLee]

41. Whats the big deal?

Civil rights is a backburner issue. Our Congress has more important things to focus on people.

[Occulus]

51. I can't say what I want to to you because it violates DU rules against personal attacks

So I'll just tell you to go pound some sand instead.

[saltpoint]

42. What if two straight males want to rent a room, or two straight females?

I mean for non-sexual purposes. While traveling to a funeral, for example.

How do the desk clerks know at check-in without asking, "So. Are you two gals lesbians, or what?"

Also, what if two avowedly straight people check into a room and one of them, perhaps weeks or months or even years later, comes out as a gay person? Would there be a penalty?

I just glanced up at the calendar. It SAYS "2007."

I hope that's correct.

[knitter4democracy]

43. I will never stay there, then.

If they are going to be so stupid as to lose that much business over their own dumb issues, then I'm not giving them any of my money.

I'll bet they're fine with prostitutes and honeymoon videos, and I'll bet there's porn on their tvs, but at least they're saving all those hookers from running into a gay couple at the ice machine. :eyes:

[Nicole]

44. This is ridicules.

Why should they care about the relationship of their guests? Their only concern should be that they pay the bill, don't tear the place up or steal the towels.

My sisters & I meet in hotels about 3 times a year. We always hug & kiss each other at first sight. I guess these fools wouldn't want our business either?

[cassiepriam]

45. How do they know who is gay and who is straight?

[Maraya1969]

46. How can a hotel be "Closed on Sunday"??? That is what the Myrtle Beach

hotel just said. And I called 4 others before and NO ONE IS ANSWERING THE PHONE????????


At some point they are going to have to answer.

Or you can leave your name and have them call you back.

Oh Oh I know what to do......call these places and say you and your girlfriend/boyfriend/partner wants some information about the room. They say they do not take reservations.

[Maraya1969]

47. The one in Grahm North Caroline said in its message: "If this is an emergency

please call 336 - 516 - 6143 or or 336 - 516 -4777

I called and got yet another answering machine. So I left this message:

"If my girlfriend and I want to rent a room and I promise to sleep on the floor or on a cot is that ok?"

and

"And if my straight friends want to stay in the same room do they have to show you their marriage certificate or do you have another way of verifying that they are legally married?"

I'm going to think of some more questions and call back. :evilgrin:

[MGD]

52. It isn't discrimination. Only blacks, browns, yellows, and women can be discriminated against

Oh, Jews too.