Is homophobia still alive in hospitality?
The London Tourist Board may have been wooing the pink pound, but a survey of 100 hotels and 100 restaurants by Queercompany.com, which last week launched its Web site for gay men and women, found that one in five restaurants and one in five hotels outside London would reject a booking from a gay couple, or would accept them only if their "gayness" remained in the closet.
One restaurant's response - "That's fine so long as there's no nudity" - certainly points to some bizarre misconceptions.
Queercompany founder Henrietta Morris decided to carry out the survey after, she claims, she and her partner were turned away from a Dorset hotel as soon as the manager realised the double room booked was intended for joint occupancy.
But the proprietor denied these allegations, which he described as "bizarre" and "libellous". "I have never received any letter of complaint from this individual," he said. "I don't know who she is, or what she is talking about."
He said the hotel was not selective in "any shape or form" on grounds of race, religion, disability or sexuality, and had received plenty of gay couples. If Morris had been turned away, he insisted, it would have been for reasons other than sexual orientation.
"Most hotels and restaurants do not have a formal policy, but places in London are more accepting," said Queercompany's Steven Bustin. "Virtually everyone at Queercompany has had occasions when they've checked in to places and had funny looks. It happens all the time."
The most rampant alleged homophobia was found in premises in "middle England", such as country house hotels and B&Bs, rather than metropolitan areas.
Debbie Gupta, director of policy at gay lobby group Stonewall, agreed that prejudice was fairly high outside London and major cities, where people had little experience of gay culture.
The results did not surprise her, as Stonewall has received calls from gay people who had not been allowed to book into double rooms, or were told there was no room despite the vacancy notice in the window.
Encouragingly, the signs are that prejudice is breaking down. "The anecdotal evidence is that attitudes are changing - three or four years ago, things were much worse," said Bustin. "Some people were genuinely surprised that we were asking these questions."
Catherine Endacott, hotel manager at Gidleigh Park hotel in Chagford, Devon, found the anti-gay attitude "strange", while Robin Hutson, managing director of the Hotel du Vin chain, thought it "somewhat archaic".
"I am delighted to see anybody who wants to pay the room rate," Hutson said.
He added that "obnoxious behaviour" was more likely to upset his guests than people's sexual preferences.
Tracey Davies, resident manager of Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire, also thought the anti-gay bias "bizarre". "At the end of the day, they are paying guests and they have as much right to be here as anybody else," she said.
As one three-star restaurant in Cambridge responded to the Queercompany survey: "If someone complained, we would take them to one side and politely explain that we're in the 21st century."
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
According to Stonewall's Gupta, the law provides no protection from discrimination against gay people who are sacked from their work, or denied goods or services because they are gay. However, the Government is to introduce protection for gay people in the workplace by 2003 under an EU directive.
A survey carried out by Stonewall in 1993 found that 48% of gay men and women said they had faced harassment at work because of their sexual orientation. A survey carried out by the TUC this year, she said, showed a drop of just 4 percentage points to 44%.
RESULTS OF THE QUEERCOMPANY SURVEY
Hotels were asked if they would accept bookings from gay couples, while restaurants were quizzed about their booking attitudes and how they would react to customers complaining about gay couples holding hands at the next table.
Hotels
"I wouldn't want my hotel filled with them as I have my regular trade to think of." Two-star hotel, Wales.
"So long as they are respectable and not throwing bread rolls at each other." Two-star hotel, Worcestershire.
"No problem as long as they behave normally… like heterosexual guests." Four-star hotel, Yorkshire.
Restaurants
"We're happy to book for gay men, but not Friday or Saturday as the locals are in." Pub B&B, North Yorkshire.
"If they were going act in a straight way, looking like straight people and moderate their language, then it would probably be okay, but not if they were going to dress and act in a gay way." Channel Islands restaurant.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 16-22 November 2000
