CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–November 2, 2011. A downstate couple seeking to a convenient public facility to host their civil union ceremony were denied by not one, but two facilities based on their sexual orientation, according to new complaints filed with the State of Illinois Human Rights Commission. Todd and Mark Wathen of Mattoon were seeking a location for their civil union ceremony that would permit friends and family members from Kentucky and Missouri to attend the ceremony and spend the night. An internet search identified two possibilities – the Beall Mansion Bed and Breakfast of Alton and the Timber Creek Bed and Breakfast of Paxton – that offered their facilities for weddings. But when the Wathens contacted both facilities, they were rebuffed and, in one instance, subjected to a Biblical lecture on homosexuality.
