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Preserve Marriage reignites hotel dispute

Members of the group Preserve Marriage (Photograph supplied)

A dispute over a decision by the Hamilton Princess to cancel a venue for same-sex marriage opponents has flared up once again.

The hotel maintained that the original reservation had been made under an alternate name, and it later broke off the agreement.

However, Preserve Marriage has insisted that its e-mail records confirm that the booking had been made in its name, and it provided The Royal Gazette with a copy of a communication showing so.

In November 2015, the hotel withdrew a booking for Ryan Anderson, a visiting American speaker and prominent opponent of same-sex marriage.

Allan Federer, the hotel’s general manager, said subsequently that the Preserve Marriage event had been originally reserved under “a different guise”.

On that occasion, Mr Federer said the Hamilton Princess booking would “never have been accepted if the group had disclosed its intentions at the time of the reservation”.

“The Hamilton Princess does not accept any booking that promotes discrimination of any kind,” he added.

Dr Anderson’s lectures subsequently went ahead in the Heritage Worship Centre hall.

Preserve Marriage said they had met Mr Federer and requested a retraction of his remarks, which he declined to do.

Meanwhile, Preserve Marriage was said to be contemplating a formal complaint to the Human Rights Commission.

In a statement yesterday, the group said it had been identified from the outset. Preserve Marriage also said they had met Mr Federer and requested a retraction of his remarks, which he declined to do.

In response to yesterday’s announcement, the hotel said: “Hamilton Princess stands by its previous statement.”

For the full text of the Preserve Marriage press release, click on the PDF file under “Related Media”