Hoteliers to be banned from turning away gays

Hoteliers are to be banned by law from turning away gay couples, it is revealed today.

Equalities Minister Jacqui Smith has said that a single equalities Act forbidding discrimination against homosexuals in goods and services is to be introduced.

Last month Tom Forrest, owner of the Cromasaig Guesthouse in Kinlochwe, refused a bedroom to a gay couple. Visit Scotland, the tourist authority which had recommended the guesthouse, apologised publicly but the couple had no legal redress.

Ms Smith told a Department of Trade and Industry seminar that the new Equality and Human Rights Commission, set up to combat all forms of discrimination, will draft a new law to "meet the needs of modern Britain".