That's Some Gaydar!

Jason Pickel and Darren Black Bear were looking for a reasonably priced place to stay for a while, so they went to Affordable Suites of America in Sumter, South Carolina. At the desk, they asked about rates, deposits, and things of that nature, and then were cut short by the clerk, who said "We don't rent to multiple people of the same sex." "So you don't rent to gay couples?" Pickel asked her. "No," she said, "we don't rent to gay people at all."

There is no law in South Carolina that protects gay citizens from housing discrimination, so Affordable Suites of America has broken no law. But the clerk's comments beg analysis:

If the hotel does not rent to "multiple people of the same sex," that means that a mother and daughter or two sisters traveling together, two women on a vacation, or two businesswomen traveling together cannot stay at the Sumter Affordable Suites of America. They must turn away quite a few people.

"We don't rent to gay people at all" means that a gay person traveling alone could not rent a suite at the hotel. But how do the clerks determine who is gay? Is there a test? And if a presumably heterosexual person is traveling with a gay person, does the heterosexual person get the room and the gay person sleep in the hall? What about bisexual people? Can the clerks determine who they are, too? And do they get to stay?

Aside from the ugly bigotry involved, the "regulation" is absurd. Fortunately, there is at least a chance this nonsense may soon be a thing of the past: A bill in the South Carolina senate seeks to expand the Lodging Establishment Act to include a ban on housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Comments

their number in sumter is 803-934-9300.

call and ask for brenda.

ask her why they discriminate.

(they close at 7 EST).

Posted by: Justin on 03/29/07 at 4:51 PM Respond

sumter is a shit hole town and hated living there. most everybody, I know called it dumpster.

Posted by: Dumster Sucks on 03/31/07 at 5:23 PM Respond

Some good questions, Diane,and ones I'm sure the hotel personnel would not be able to answer to the satisfaction of any thinking person. Had you heard about the treatment that a gay couple got on what I believe was an AA flight about a year ago? There was a blip about it in the New Yorker. A stewardess who obviously didn't like 'the gays' told a couple that they had to stop the PDA [I think maybe they had given each other one of those small, 'smack' kisses that couples do]because the captain had ordered it. When the couple protested their treatment, it escalated, and American Airlines really came off like a lot of asses. There's something special in the air, but it smells like shit, and obviously so does Sumter. This news about the bill is a whiff of something else, though, as this story underscores why protections for minorities is always important.

Posted by: Paul Miller on 03/31/07 at 8:56 PM Respond

This underscores the double edged sword of democracy. On the one side, you get majority rule. That's actually the easy part. The other side is that you must protect minorities from the majority. It's way too easy for the majority to just steamroll over a minority.

Sometimes, as we have now, we even get vocal and highly active minorities that steamroll over the majority. This is happening with the extremists on the far right that are trying to make this country a Christian theocracy. They're also succeeding!

Posted by: Misanthropic Scott on 04/01/07 at 6:23 AM Respond

Paul, I do recall the American Airlines incident and how ridiculous it was. I'm not sure, but I think AA wound up apologizing for its flight attendant.

Posted by: Diane on 04/01/07 at 7:49 AM Respond

Maybe Oprah put on some pressure - her show used to be and may still be sponsored by American Airlines. In any event, it's a nice reminder than if you're being pushed around, it's good to push back.

Posted by: Paul Miller on 04/01/07 at 3:40 PM Respond