CORNWALL, UK, February 7, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Christian owners of the UK Bed & Breakfast who recently went to court for refusing to provide a double room to a homosexual couple, say they are now being deluged with offensive phone calls and blasphemous, obscene emails.
Peter and Hazelmary Bull, who run the Chymorvah Private Hotel from their home, were taken to court by Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy. The pair had booked a room with the guesthouse as ‘Mr. and Mrs. Preddy’ but were turned away when they arrived and revealed they were a homosexual couple.
Following the December 2010 court ruling by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the Bulls were fined £3,600.
Since September the Bulls say their telephone has been ringing constantly with irate callers. The callers have even tried to reach the Bulls through the hospital where Peter Bull has been recovering from heart surgery; medical staff have had to enforce a password for family and friends.
“Fortunately, it’s off-season so we’re closed – although I’ve had one man screaming ‘Liar!’ down the receiver at me when I said so,” Hazelmary Bull said in an interview with The Telegraph.
The Bulls have also received receive blasphemous emails through their website reservation form. One writer called himself “Jesus Christ” and told the guesthouse owners they were “foul, foul beings,” that he hoped they would go bankrupt, and that they would “go to hell” for their actions. The Telegraph journalist described this example as one of the “milder” e-mails the Bulls have received.
At the same time, extremely negative reviews of the Bull’s guesthouse have begun to surface on travel websites – reviews that Mrs. Bull says are clearly false, because the reviewers claimed to have stayed at the guesthouse during the winter, when it is closed.
“I was moved nearly to tears when I saw the reviews. I pride myself on cleanliness and we work so hard to provide a good experience for people,” she said.
Bull told the Telegraph, “We’re taking legal advice, but the one thing I do know is that we will not go against God’s teachings in the Bible. I’m not anti-gay. I’m not anti-sex … I just believe it should be contained within marriage.”
“To me, a civil partnership is not the same as a marriage. And you know it’s not just gay people I won’t allow to share a bed, it’s unmarried heterosexuals, too. I’ve turned away dozens of couples down the years,” Bull said.
Evidence shows that the Bulls’ B&B may have been set up as a test case by the homosexual activist group Stonewall. The two men who attempted to book a room with them called only a month after the Bulls received a threatening letter from Stonewall demanding that they change their policy or risk being sued.
The Bulls are appealing the ruling and say they are being driven out of business by a “hate campaign.”
“I think we always knew as Christians that society would reach a point where civil partnerships would be regarded in the same light as marriages – despite the assurances of the government – and now it has happened. I feel very sad that we are being persecuted and marginalised for our beliefs,” said Mrs. Bull.