What shall we do about these isms and phobias?

[MoonRocker]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18588612

[sp1814]

MoonRocker

If you did, a lot of people in the UK wouldn't understand what you meant, and there's the danger that you would actually have to turn away wasps...real wasps.

[ludwig]

It's completely wrong for obvious reasons.

[ludwig]

It's the shopkeepers who should be liable for prosecution. They're responsible for what they choose to put in their windows.

[brionon]

If you have a Phobia about enclosed places or Heights we pity you .If you have a Phobia about Blacks or Gays we despise you. Innit ?

[anotheoldgit]

Completely agree with naomi24 ie /// people should be allowed to specify who they want to let accommodation to. /// but there is a law about discrimination.

But it comes as no surprise to me, that certain sections of the community can get away with it, when others can't.

Anyone remember that couple who owned a B&B and turned away a Gay couple?

http://www.telegraph....-away-from-BandB.html

And also this one.

http://www.telegraph....-gay-couple-away.html

[keyplus90]

If this is against the law then there should be another law in force. Anyone who try selling their house because few other houses in the area has been bought by people from other race or religion should be punished and shuld not be allowed to sell and move to another area of their choice and of their race. Problem solved.

[bazwillrun]

you can avdertise your property any which way the law says , but at the end of the day YOU decide who lives in it.

Nobody tells me or is ever going to tell me who I allow to live in my rental properties.
Unfortunately if the law changes blah blah etc etc, it will mean a lot of wasted time for those looking to rent and those renting.

[ludwig]

^ Fair enough. A little bit of wasted time is a small price to pay to avoid going back to the 'No blacks, no dogs, no Irish' days.

[cathfromsaron]

that's what i was meaning about 'honesty' ... these specifications might save people wasting time!

[sp1814]

cathfromsaron

Bit of a slippery slope though, isn't it?

I mean, if we can put, 'No gays or blacks' in adverts for housing, why not jobs. Or schools?

Isn't that just the way to guarantee social apartheid?

[sp1814]

AOG

What do you mean when you say certain sections of the community can 'get away with it'?

Can you please post a link to any report where a shopkeeper has been found not guilty of breaching the Equalities act by advertising a room for rent directed to a minority.

The B&B owners were rightly taken to court and fined.

Until someone takes one of these newsagents to court, you cannot really assume that they've gotten away with anything.

Indeed, until you read this report on the BBC website, did you even know it was going on?

[cathfromsaron]

wasn't advocating it!

maybe a white meat-eating gay bloke should attempt to rent one and kick up a storm, like with that christian hotel?

btw, if you are renting out a room in your home you can specify the gender!

[sp1814]

brionon

The word 'homophobia' is a nice gentle word which I don't actually think encompasses what it's trying to describe.

Someone with a phobia has an overwhelming fear of something.

Whereas someone who has 'homophobia' is may have one of a range of feelings from disgust through to violent hatred...but not necessarily fear.

I think of 'homophobic' is a PC word for 'gay hater'.

[sp1814]

cathfromsaron

Or Chinese, Pakistani, Mongolian etc!

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// Until someone takes one of these newsagents to court, you cannot really assume that they've gotten away with anything. ///

The question I am asking is why they are allowed to have such discriminating adverts in their windows, when others would not be allowed to discriminate against these groups?

/// Indeed, until you read this report on the BBC website, did you even know it was going on? ///

Of course not, I did not even know it was on the BBC website until I read this post.

Do you know everything that goes off before you hear of it via the media, a website, or by word of mouth?

[emmie]

SP, which is what i said way back in the post, that you can't discriminate, no matter your ethnicity. We don't want those days back again. i do wonder that no one has taken the matter up with the shop keeper who has these ads in the window.

[Brenden]

Would that be an islamic or communist state you are advocating keyplus - no freedom of choice?

[sp1814]

AOG

Which is exactly my point - until the BBC shone a light on this, none of us knew it was going on. Now that we do, it's up to local councils and the police to get the ads removed and/or prosecute.

If nothing happens then[i we can justifiably say that people are screwing with the system, just as we know (via the BBC again) that employers are less likely to interview candidates with 'black sounding' names, even when they have exactly the same qualifications as those with Anglo-Saxon sounding monikers.

You cannot legislate prejudice away, but you [i]can] put provision in place to demonstrate that the state does not find it acceptable - like the vast majority of the nation.

Put simply...most of us prejudge people - but it's only a tiny minority who will allow those prejudices to alter their behaviour or negatively impact others.

The government is simply reflecting popular consent.

[sp1814]

AOG

Again - who 'allowed' them?

No-one gave them the go-ahead to commit these crimes, in the same way that no-one gives a burglar permission to break into a home.

[cathfromsaron]

absolutely, anyone of a gender/race/sexuality not listed should stand their ground ...