Bill's Comment Page

Discrimination against gays still legal in the UK, but there are signs of change

For many years, discrimination on the basis of race, religion and gender has been illegal in this country - but an exception to this policy of 'inclusion' is that gays are not similarly protected.

Soon there will be legislation in force protecting certain employment rights of gays - unless of course you work for a religious organisation as these bodies successfully lobbied for them to be an exception.

However, there is nothing to prevent someone saying, for example, that they don't want to (and won't) rent a room or other accommodation to a gay - such action based on race or ethnic origin would be quite rightly seen as outrageous, however. And, of course, it is against the law.

Just as there is nothing to prevent a holiday company from advertising holidays for "heterosexual couples only". A company called 'Sandals' has been doing this for a number of years and when, some years ago, I read one of their attractive full-page ads in a glossy magazine it was only by reading a miniscule line of print that one could see this policy. It shocked and angered me.

Now London Mayor Ken Livingstone has decided that the London Underground may no longer accept advertsising posters from 'Sandals' for display in the London tube, and the new policy is described in this article in today's Independent.

I strongly welcome this move, although I must say I do have certain reservations about the potential 'unintended consequences' of this policy if it were to be formalised into law. I think that VERY careful drafting will be required. The reason is that I think it is unrealistic to force holiday-makers to be exposed to situations they wish not to be exposed to in their private lives, as completely distinct from their public and professional lives. This cuts both ways. For example, as a gay man, I often book holidays through a 'gay' travel company - it caters predominantly for gay/lesbian clients (although not exclusively so) and I find it easier to deal with them so I do not risk being placed in a situation that I might find uncomfortable - to give an extreme example, if I found myself in a resort or a hotel which had a large proportion of extreme Christian evangelists, say at a convention or a conference. It is also true that this and other 'gay' holiday companies advertise specific hotels and resorts which are 'exclusively' gay, although I have never so far taken a holiday in one of these places - it's not really my style.

However, I can see no escape from the result that if it becomes unacceptable for 'Sandals' to advertise as they do, then it must be equally unacceptable for 'gay' holiday companies to advertise some of their holidays as they do. Frankly, would I in any case want to go to a place full of 'honeymoon' couples, or full of families with young children who quite obviously have a lot of 'steam to let off' during their annual summer vacation in the sun? In my case, the answer has to be no. In summary, I think this is yet another 'populist' move by Ken Livingstone to get publicity, specially as the story appears on the day the Labour Party conference at Bournemouth is due to begin.