And how is this not Special Rights?

From ABC News...

In what is believed to be a first for Australia, the Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled last week that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.

Australia's equal opportunity laws prevent people being discriminated against based on race, religion or sexuality.

But Peel Hotel owner Tom McFeely said the ruling was necessary to provide gay men with a non-threatening atmosphere to freely express their sexuality....

Victoria's state human rights commission backed the ruling, saying it was in line with equal opportunity guidelines defending the rights of groups subject to discrimination.

Okay, so it's Australia, not the US, but the cultures of the two are about the closest you'll find. Both the US and Australia are culturally from British roots, both are made up of a heavy mix of immigrants from a wide variety of other cultures, both have humble, historical origins (the US was the refuge point for the poor and impoverished of the world in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Australia was a penal colony). Both have had to subdue an often rugged and hostile land while attempting to deal judiciously with an much less developed indigenous people. It's safe to say that what happens in Australia is a sign post to what may one day happen here, and vice-versa.

But the story of Peer Hotel gets even more colorful. Hotel owner Tom McFeely told the Sydney Star Observer (a homosexual newspaper)...

We don’t really get any violence at the Peel. Historically the only violence has come from lesbians, particularly when they start fighting around the pool table.

Except the AFP (Annoying Frog Press) reports...

Helen Szoke, the chief executive of the Victoria state government's Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, said the Peel Hotel's gay clientele had experienced harassment, hostility and violence.

Seems the media and those supporting the Hotel's new policy can't get their story straight (no pun intended)

Posted by Danny Carlton at June 4, 2007 6:38 AM