Lesbian couple win anti-discrimination suit against Honolulu B&B

A lesbian couple from California who were denied a room at a Hawai‘i bed and breakfast after the owner learned of their sexual orientation have won a discrimination lawsuit they filed against the business four years later.

According to a joint press statement by Lambda Legal, which helped represent the plaintiffs, and the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission, which joined the lawsuit, the First Circuit Court of Hawai‘i ruled in favor yesterday of a Long Beach couple who had contacted Aloha Bed & Breakfast in the Hawai‘i Kai area of Honolulu in 2007, before a vacation to visit a friend and her baby who lived nearby.

The owner (named in the official complaint as Phyllis Young) allegedly asked Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford if they were lesbians, and when they replied they were, declined to rent a room to them over the course of several phone calls, eventually citing religious objections. The owner later told a state civil rights commission investigator that she believed same-sex relationships are “detestable” and that “they defile our land,” according to the press statement.

In yesterday’s ruling, the court found that Aloha Bed & Breakfast had violated the state public accommodations law, and also ordered the B&B “to stop its ongoing business practice of discriminating against same-sex couples,” according to the statement. In their complaint, the couple had asked for such a court order , or “injunctive relief,” as well as unspecified damages and attorneys’ fees, which were not discussed in the press statement.

http://blog.sfgate.com/hawaii/2013/04/16/lesbian-couple-win-anti-discrimination-suit-against-honolulu-bb/