Calabria B&B stops gay couple from booking a room

(ANSA) - Rome, July 25 - A bed and breakfast in Italy's southern region of Calabria has refused to allow a homosexual couple to book a room in its facilities, causing public outcry and calls for specific laws and policies to counter discrimination.
    The head of the Arcigay association said that the news of the refusal, which the managers said was because the establishment "does not accept gays and animals", was of serious concern and that anti-discrimination policies should be brought in for the country's tourism sector. The mayor of Ricadi, the city in which the B&B is located, personally invited the couple because "her city is absolutely not homophobic as shown by the wedding ceremony between two Neapolitan women she officiated over a few weeks ago", said regional councilor Francesco Emilio Borrelli from the Green party on a radio program. Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini said that "I believe that rejecting a request for a hotel reservation to people on the basis of their sexual orientation is unacceptable both from the point of view of human dignity, and it is also against the principles of equality enshrined by our Constitution."