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January 18, 2011 /LGBT News/ A British court has awarded a gay couple £3,600 (5,800 dollars, 4,300 euros) in a lawsuit against Christian hotel owners who refused to let them stay in a double room.

Judge Andrew Rutherford ruled that Peter and Hazelmary Bull, the devout Christians who own the hotel, were breaking the law when they denied Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy a room at the Chymorvah Hotel, near Penzance, in September 2008.

Mr. and Mrs. Bull said it was not about sexual orientation rather their opposition to sex before marriage. They had argued that the restriction also applied to heterosexual couples who are not married.

Hall and Preddy won the case based on the Equality Act Regulations of 2007. This is the first time this law was used to sue on the basis of sexual orientation. The ruling is said to provide those in civil partnerships with greater protection from discrimination.

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