From the Standard
Today Judge John Hand QC ruled that members of the group had suffered discrimination and awarded them £3,000 damages each - a total of £24,000.
He said that Wetherspoon thinking was “suffused with the stereotypical assumption that Irish Travellers and English Gypsies cause disorder wherever they go.
Utter bollocks. If they'd not been allowed in for being Irish or English, that's racism. Being a traveler is not a racial definition. It's a lifestyle. You might as well create a race for "Scottish Farmer" or "Welsh Football Fan". We allow pubs to ban people for being football fans, despite the fact that many football fans are perfectly decent people. What's the difference between that and being a traveller? And what do they mean by "gypsy"? A nomadic or free-spirited person, or someone descended from South Asia? Because again, the former isn't racism, the latter is. And if they're referring to people from South Asia, shouldn't the judge be using the correct name, Romani?
And I think it's fair I mention all my non-stereotypical experiences with travellers....
