Pred and breakfast

[j4]

I don't blog about the news, but this baffles me:

The Sexual Orientation Regulations have been criticised by some religious groups who say people will not be allowed to act according to faith.

I can see how (to take an example that's already becoming extremely irksome, so thanks to vinaigrettegirl for a nice variation) the anti-discrimination laws might mean that running a B&B would not allow you to guarantee being able to act according to your faith, if your faith were to dictate that, for example, you may not offer shelter even unto the least and most helpless of gay people, brown people, etc. But how do you get from that position to the idea that you have a God-given right to run a B&B in the first place, and that the state must therefore defend that right? I look forward to hearing Zoroastrian librarians insisting that the Bodleian has no right to prohibit them from kindling therein any fire or flame.

Comments

[j4.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are millions of "ah but what if" examples which are morally equivalent. But I'd be interested to take this in the other direction: what would the consequences be if you said that B&Bs were people's private houses and therefore they were allowed to have whatever batshit rules the internet cared to invent -- banning people who have iPods, banning redheads, whatever? (I'm thinking of direct consequences rather than "Well, it's the thin end of the whatnot, innit, next thing you know they'll be banning Christmas".)