by Rex Wockner
International News
Ireland's Equality Tribunal ordered Galway's Eyre Square Hotel to pay 3,000 euros ($4,276) to two gay men whose social event was cancelled in 2005 because the owner allegedly didn't want to host gay events, the Irish Times reported Sept. 16.
The money compensates Peter McGuffin and Enda Harte for being discriminated against in access to public accommodations based on their sexual orientation.
Although the hotel's manager eventually allowed the impending event to go ahead, the men's weekly event at another hotel under the same ownership, the Victoria Hotel, was cancelled permanently two weeks later.
The hotels' owner claimed the cancellations resulted from the events' unprofitability, but the tribunal determined the hotels' managers had said the problem was the events' gay nature.
The tribunal also suggested that posters advertising the Eyre Square event had been torn down by hotel employees.
