Why we need non-discrimination laws

Some folks consider South Carolina to be backwards.

Naturally I don't agree because it's my home state and I love it.

But sometimes, I swear . . .

Check out this recent incident:

Couple: Hotel Wouldn't Rent to Us Because We're Gay

(Sumter) - A gay couple looking to rent a room say they were told by a local motel that it was against company policy to rent to gay couples.

The hotel is the Affordable Suites of America in Sumter.

For the past two and a half years, Jason Pickel and Darren Black Bear have been a committed couple. They recently exchanged bands, and Tuesday, their search for a temporary place to call home brought thtem to Affordable Suites, a long-term hotel in Sumter, where the couple says they were far from welcome.

"We were inquiring about the price, deposits, extra person fee, and she asked who the was going to be for, and I said for my partner and I,” Pickel said. “She said, 'oh we don't rent to multiple people of the same sex. I said, so you don't rent to gay couples, and she said no we don't rent to gay people at all."

They say they couldn't believe what they were hearing, but they say the woman working the front desk made the message very clear.

"She was like 'no we do not, no we do not...she was very assertive about it," they said.

The website for Affordable Suites of America states the company does not allow children or pets in its suites, but there's no mention of same sex couples. So News19 decided to contact the hotel. We posed as a potential renter, and inquired about two men staying in the same room.

The receptionist who answered the phone told us the following:“Our policy is we don’t’ rent to two people of the same sex if we only have one bed.” “Is that your policy,” we asked. “That’s corporate policy because they only have one sleeping area.” We then asked, “Okay, but they can't share the bed?” "I suppose they could, but most men don’t want to,"


However, when we contacted the owner of the hotel, Carroll Atkisson, he says there had been some confusion. He says any couple can come to the place and they will rent to them, period. Atkisson says the policy was not mean to target homosexuals. He says they were just trying to stop two single people from being in the same bed.

Pickel and Black Bear say they still plan to seek legal action.

Currently, there is no state law preventing a hotel from refusing service to a same-sex couple. However, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, gender, disability, or marital status.

"If they have a policy, it has to be maintained fair and equitably," says Tom Sponseller, the President of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina. "At the beach, for example, because there are different bike weekends at the beach, that policy has to be enforced, and consistent."

There is currently a bill in the State Senate that addresses this issue. The measure, proposed by Charleston Democrat Robert Ford, would expand the Lodging Establishment Act to include prohibition of discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Bottom line: We need laws to keep things like this from happening. It's not about some "gay agenda," or an attempt to criminalize Christians.

It's only about fairness.