Equality for all - as long as they are all the same as me

Gay couple refused a room at B&B, wins court case against owners of B&B.
Source: BBC

Commenters have lamented that the owners could not chose who they allowed into their home. The point they are completely missing is that when the owners made the choice to operate a B&B from their house it stopped being their home and became the premises of a business.

If you refuse some friends of friends the use of your spare room because you don't want homosexuals in your home, that is you acting on your personal beliefs. But as a business, a legal entity, they are offering up a service to paying customers and so they have to abide by anti-discrimination laws.

The Christian Institute, who funded the B&B owners defense, said: "This ruling is further evidence that equality laws are being used as a sword rather than a shield. [...] Christians are being sidelined." How can they not see that in a society of equals, everyone's rights are of equal importance? Person A's right to follow whichever religion they chose does not supercede Person B's right to be treated the same as someone of a different sexual orientation.

Look at it this way. The couple were denied a room because the owners did not approve of people that are homosexual. What if you replace the word "homosexual" with "Islamic"? Or "of African descent"? Racism, religious intolerance, homophobia. They all amount to the same thing. Someone's beliefs prejudices them against a group of people. It doesn't matter whether or not those beliefs originate from  a book someone considers holy or not. It is not acceptable to treat anyone as a second class citizen.

On a personal level it is up to our own conscience how we treat others. On a business level the law tells us we are all equal and should be treated as such. Your right to believe that homosexuals / dark-skinned people / religious people are evil / are stupid / smell bad is not impinged by these laws. It only curtails you from actively barring groups of people from your shop / hotel / restaurant.

To my mind, when rights and beliefs clash, the rights of a person not to be discriminated against will always outrank another person's right to discriminate. Cases like this shows that, unfortunately, we are not yet tolerant enough to go without laws protecting them from us.