Court Affirms Prostitute’s Right to Rent a Room

An Australian court in Canberra has ruled that a prostitute was illegally discriminated against when a motel owner refused to rent her a room, and the decision is forcing hotels to reconsider some of their written and unwritten rules about barring sex workers from renting rooms. After the management at a motel in the town of Moranbah wouldn’t rent her a room, the women took her discrimination case to the Queensland state Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which then upheld the claim.

According to David Edwards, the motel’s lawyer, the woman will now seek damages to the tune of $32,000. This case, notes Accommodation Association of Australia chief executive Richard Munro, should also force the Queensland and Australian governments to revise some of their laws about who has the authority to bar whom from a hotel or motel, considering there are probably far weirder things than people having sex for money happening behind the closed doors of motels all throughout the Outback.