Jutland hotel owner rejects gay couple as managers

Town not “mature” enough to accept gays running a local public house, owner says

A gay couple from Aarhus looked to be on the fast track to take over as mangers of the Hotel Sig, located in the tiny hamlet of Sig just north of Varde in southwestern Jutland. Keld Christensen and Dinghao Wang both have strong management backgrounds and had several positive conversations with the owner of the property, Karl Kristian Nielsen. But things went sour when Nielsen realised that the potential mangers were actually a gay couple.

“I do not think that Sig is ready to have a gay couple managing the hotel,” Nielsen told Ugeavisen Varde, Varde’s weekly newspaper. “One of them, the lanky Chinese guy, spoke poor Danish and neither had chef’s training.”

Nielsen did not elaborate on why he felt that the couple’s sexuality would impact on their ability to run the hotel.

“I think it is grotesque that he speaks on the city's behalf,” Christensen told Ugeavisen Varde. “We are a couple that has no children to deal with, loves to work and would be available 24 hours a day.”

Residents express their support 
The couple said that they have received letters from Sig residents saying that they would have no objections to a gay couple running their local hotel, but Christensen said that the couple is no longer interested in the job.

“We cannot work with someone who sees us only in terms of our sexuality and not as individuals,” he told TV2 News.

Judging from recent reviews of the Hotel Sig on Trip Advisor, it is in serious need of new management.

“Very bad food, bad service and sky high prices,” wrote one dissatisfied guest. “Not a place that you feel welcome. Stay far away from this hotel.”

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