When Freedom Isn't Free - Theodore Dalrymple

When a bed-and-breakfast establishment refused to admit a homosexual couple, this was reported to the police by the couple in question who invoked the Equality Act 2006. While no prosecution followed the case received fresh attention when a senior Tory, Christopher Grayling, spoke out in favour of the bed-and-breakfast. The furore this provoked might have suggested he was ‘advocating medieval punishments for homosexuals’. The author argues ‘it is a necessary condition of freedom that private citizens should be allowed to treat with, or to refuse to treat with, whomever they choose…’. Liberalism, in the current public commentary, too often ‘turns into its opposite, illiberalism’.

© City Journal (New York City, N.Y.)