http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Grand+ ... story.html
A British Columbia couple is in the "centre of a firestorm" after refusing to provide accommodation to a gay couple have shut down their bed and breakfast despite doing major renovations on their home to facilitate the business.
"We've been harassed so bad we're not running (the B&B)," said Lee Molnar, who lives with his wife Susan in the B.C. community of Grand Forks.
Their lawyer Ronald Smith said they are "devastated" but also feel they can't continue to operate Grand Forks Riverbend Bed and Breakfast for fear they will be asked again "to violate their religious beliefs" by renting to a gay couple.
Smith is representing the couple in a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal case scheduled to begin Wednesday, but it was postponed.
"They're just a retired couple in Grand Forks who thought they would open their home to guests and here they are in the centre of a firestorm," Smith said. "They're a lovely couple. They don't want to be thought of as discriminating, but they're Christians who don't feel they can violate their religious beliefs."
The human-rights hearing, scheduled for two days this week in Kelowna, B.C., was postponed Wednesday after the lawyer for the gay couple — Shaun Eadie and Brian Thomas — became ill. A new date has yet to be scheduled.
The hearing will rule on whether Eadie and Thomas, who tried to book a room at the B&B on June 18, 2009, were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation when they were turned away.
According to the complaint, Eadie called the B&B, spoke with Susan Molnar and reserved a room for the following two nights. He was told it would be cash only at $80 per night, which Eadie agreed to pay.
She took their names, Shaun and Brian, and the conversation ended.
About five to 10 minutes later, Lee Molnar called back and asked whether the pair were gay.
When Eadie said yes, Molnar replied "Then this is not going to work out," according to the complaint filed in July 2009 by the couple.
In an earlier application to have the complaint dismissed, Lee Molnar stated "to allow a gay couple to share a bed in my Christian home would violate my Christian beliefs and would cause me and my wife great distress."
The application to dismiss the complaint was turned down.
"The Molnars remodelled their home to run a B&B," said Smith. "It's a beautiful home on the river, which they painted and fixed up. They built a room with a Jacuzzi and fixed up the downstairs so guests could be separate from the main house and enjoy the river view. They were quite excited about the B&B."
The couple started the business in 2002, he added. "It was never a great money maker but they enjoyed meeting people."
He said the couple shut down the B&B in the fall of 2009 because "they don't know what kind of behaviour they can say no to in their home. They don't want another human-rights complaint (filed against them)."
Smith said he will be arguing under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that his clients "have the right to decide what kinds of behaviours take place in their home."
This is the second time in five years the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has been asked to rule on a conflict between gay rights and religious rights.
In 2005, in a similar case, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled the Catholic group, the Knights of Columbus, was justified for refusing to rent its hall to a lesbian couple for a wedding reception.
However, the tribunal ruled the Knights of Columbus should have made other accommodations for the couple.
Smith said he plans to use that case in his arguments before the tribunal for the Molnars. He suspects the complainants' lawyer will also rely on the same case.
"It's the same argument that on religious grounds (the Knights of Columbus) had the right to refuse to rent to them. But the other side will argue you still have to accommodate them," said Smith. "So the question becomes, where does one right end and the other right begin?"
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