Gay Couple Refused A Double Room In Christian B & B: A Question

You probably have already heard of this case. In 2008, a gay couple, Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy from Bristol were visiting a B & B in Cornwall and were refused a double room by the owners. They were told they would have to take two single rooms. They sued for discrimination and have been awarded £1,800 each in one of the first cases brought under the UK Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007.

My question is, would a similar case have a similar result if it were brought to court today in the US, and would such a case's result vary much from state to state?

It would vary much by state here I believe. I think there are only a handful of states where the couple would have won the case. NY & Mass I am fairly sure of, but I am not even sure about NJ and California.

Yeah, there's no national recognition of sexual orientation or gender identity as a protected class. Therefore, in a lot of states they can discriminate against LGBT people with impunity. It's changing, but slowly. In a lot of cases even when the letter of the law goes one way there are going to be interpretations and subtle efforts to still deny people rights. So in many states there'd be no grounds for them to sue and in some of the ones where there would be grounds a win would still not be guaranteed.