[hotelhyatt]

Fr Raphael Vereshack wrote: In other words if such a possibility as renting to a homosexual or unmarried couple is unacceptable to you and your wife- then you had better not enter this enterprise to begin with. The problem may be that the Christian may already be in some profession or business to which legislation of the kind in question subsequently applies (as in the case of the Christian registrar). It is also disturbing to think that in such societies as ours, Christians' employment choices might be so limited.

But in any case the managers of a bed & breakfast may resist renting to a homosexual couple- but if they run a grocery store are they going to refuse service to such people? How about a gas station or airline booking agency? Or to back up from what is obviously absurd- what of Orthodox who want to teach in schools which force the principle of wide spread tolerance?; or who want to be doctors & nurses in a public health system legally obligated to offer abortion? It might be said that the difference between providing bed & breakfast accommodation, and selling groceries, gas (petrol) or airline tickets is that the latter three do not involve facilitating homosexual conduct, i.e. 'direct participation' if - and this point has not been settled - such (providing B&B) amounts to the consent or silence which are said to be ways of participating in the sins of others.

But there is no possibility of backing out of this situation completely. Therefore we work within the situation as we can and as it allows us moral room to move. However this still puts before us complex matters with little easy choice. This question is not, of course, restricted to homosexuals; the same might apply to unmarried heterosexual couples or adulterous couples (were that known) - in which case, the bed & breakfast provider might find business very slack indeed! To be entirely consistent, the Orthodox B&B provider should only take bookings from couples who have been married in the Orthodox Church! So, yes, it can get silly, and a stance against only homosexuals in this context would look like discrimination.