Publican refused to serve gay woman

A PUBLICAN was ordered to pay €1,000 to a gay woman after the Equality Tribunal found he had discriminated against her by asking her to leave his pub.

Neither the woman in question nor the publican were named in this case but the publican denied the claim saying she was "in the company of someone who had accidentally and unknowingly knocked over some glasses some weeks previously." The woman claimed he knew she was gay.

In this case, the Equality Officer said he could not accept the publican's spillage argument especially when neither of the women had even been alerted to the fact that a spillage had occurred. He also said he could not understand why the publican had not explained this reasoning to the women when she approached him on the matter days later.