Did someone void the First Amendment and forget to tell us?
HONOLULU, April 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – A Hawaii judge has ruled that a Christian woman broke the law when she declined to rent a bed in her in-home bed and breakfast to a pair of homosexual women.
Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford, from Long Beach, CA, sued Aloha Bed and Breakfast owner Phyllis Young after she refused to rent them a room in 2007. According to their complaint, after they told Young that they would need only one bed, she asked them if they were homosexuals. When they confirmed that they were in a same-sex relationship, Young declined to rent them the room, citing religious beliefs against homosexuality and saying she would feel uncomfortable with lesbians staying in her home.
Cervelli and Bufford reported Young to the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, which interviewed Young at her home. According to their report, Young confirmed that she denied the women lodging because of their lesbianism, and told investigators that she finds homosexuality a “detestable” practice that “defiles our land.”
Now, a judge has ruled that Young violated Hawaii’s public accommodations law, which says businesses that rent rooms to the public cannot discriminate based on race, sex, religion, sexual preference or gender identity.