Taeko Bufford, left, and Diane Cervelli, who were rejected by a Hawaiian bed and breakfast for requesting a shared bed (Photo: Eric Risberg)
BY ZACK FORD
ThinkProgress
A judge in Hawaii’s first circuit has ruled that the Aloha Bed & Breakfast in Hawai’i Kai was violating state law when it discriminated against a same-sex couple and imposed an injunction preventing it from ever doing so again. Lambda Legal represented the couple, Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford, but the Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) also joined in the suit.
The couple had been visiting a close friend and her newborn baby, and they contacted the Aloha B&B because it was near where she lived. When they asked for a single bed, owner Phyllis Young asked if they were a lesbian couple, and when they confirmed they were, the owner said she was uncomfortable having lesbians in her house because of her religious views. During an HCRC investigation, Young admitted that she turned the couple away because she believes that same-sex relationships are “detestable” and that they “defile the land.”
Read more at ThinkProgress.org
