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Lesbian Couple suing VT Inn for discrimination

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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:18 PM
Original message
Lesbian Couple suing VT Inn for discrimination


by Taylor Dobbs | July 19, 2011

A lesbian couple is suing the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville for discrimination. The resort, which is a renowned tourist destination in the Northeast Kingdom, refused to allow the couple to hold a reception on the premises because the two women are gay.

The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is representing the couple.

Katherine Baker and Ming-Lien Linsley of New York City were planning a Vermont wedding and put Linsley’s mother, Channie Peters, in charge of the reception. Peters emailed the Vermont Convention Bureau for help finding a venue and was contacted by the Wildflower Inn, via email. “You could not offer a better ‘destination wedding’ location for your guests,” a staffer said.

Five minutes after Peters’ phone call to Wildflower’s Meeting and Events director, in which she clarified that the reception consisted of “two brides” and not a bride and groom, she received a second email with the subject line: “I have bad news.” The email went on to state that “due to personal feelings, they do not host gay receptions at our facility.” In a later conversation, the same employee said the same thing had happened to three different couples over the course of a year.

The lawsuit filed by Baker and Linsley claims that this policy is in violation of Vermont’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, which states that the owner or operator of a “place of public accommodation” cannot deny accommodations to anyone on the grounds of “race, creed, color, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”

The lawsuit, which was filed in Caledonia County Superior Court, requests nominal damages of $1, and a declaration that Wildflower’s conduct was in violation of state law, and Wildflower coverage of the couple’s legal fees.

Baker said they were “sad and shocked” when they learned of the inn’s policy. Linsley said that until this event, she had never been discriminated against to this extent and now she felt the need to stand up to ensure no more couples were turned away based on their sexuality.

The couple plans to be married and hold a reception at another Vermont location – which they would not disclose for privacy reasons – this fall.

Baker and Linsley were engaged in October 2010. According to the lawsuit, they had planned “a traditional Buddhist wedding ceremony at a religious retreat,” followed by a reception for friends and family at another location.

The Vermont Convention Bureau recommended the Wildflower Inn to the couple.

A receptionist for Wildflower Inn said the innkeepers “are not taking any calls.”

Under Vermont statutes, there are two narrow exemptions to the public accommodations statute that applies to religious organizations and lodging accommodations with fewer than five rooms. The Wildflower Inn does not qualify for an exemption under either category, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that Baker and Linsley have been “aggrieved by violation of” public accommodation laws and have suffered “stigmatizing injury and deprivation of personal dignity that accompany denials of equal access to public establishments.”

The 24-room Wildflower Inn has been featured in articles in the National Geographic Traveler, Boston Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Bing Travel, the Boston Globe, Montreal Gazette, Vermont Magazine, Bloomberg.com, Travel and Leisure and USA Today.

The lawsuit states that the resort has 50 employees and annual revenues of $2.5 million and $5 million.
http://vtdigger.org/2011/07/19/gay-brides-sue-wildflower-inn-on-grounds-of-discrimination/

Note to mods: I have permission from Anne Galloway-Kane to post any VTdigger story in full.

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CurtEastPoint Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:24 PM
Response to Original message
1. Wow. A reviewer on TripAdvisor ripped them about homophobia and the owner said:
"Wow, how do I respond to a review like this? Bigots, homophobic - far from it. We have a number of friends that are homosexual, we have many guests that are homosexual and we've employed homosexuals. So that statement is totally untrue. I have never seen any of our staff treat any guest differently because of their sexual preference.

So, Mr. O'Reilly...which is the truth? What the ladies said or what YOU said?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g57311-d82608-Reviews-Wildflower_Inn-Lyndonville_Northeast_Kingdom_Vermont.html

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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:27 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I know the owners. ugh. And I know the head of the Vt. Human Rights Commission
Robert Appel. Mr and Mrs O'Reilly are fucked.
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yardwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 09:49 PM
Response to Reply #2
10. Are the owners homophobic? Do you think that the lawsuit has merit?
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N7Shepard Donating Member (191 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:28 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. "I have black friends" even though I use the N word.
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Fearless Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:30 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. *Wheels out token gay friend* etc.
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-20-11 12:52 AM
Response to Reply #1
12. The fact that they use "homosexual" rather than "gay" is a homophobia tip-off.
The homophobes always seem to make of point of always saying "homosexual" and never saying "gay".
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Dennis Donovan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:28 PM
Response to Original message
4. Just in case anyone is curious - here's the Inn's website:
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Dennis Donovan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:30 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Oh, and they call themselves "dog-friendly" - dogs, ok. Same sex couples?
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CurtEastPoint Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 09:46 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. Yeah, I noticed that. Dogs good. Gays bad.
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PoliticAverse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 05:48 PM
Response to Original message
7. Looks like the Inn really has no case under state law. n/t
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MNBrewer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-19-11 09:47 PM
Response to Original message
9. No room at the inn
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FreeState Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-20-11 12:45 AM
Response to Original message
11. K&R
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