Sydney hotel cancels Christian event discussing gay marriage following complaints from patrons

A hotel in Sydney, Australia has decided to cancel an event organized by a Christian group after the establishment received backlash from patrons who were upset about the discussions on the issue of same-sex marriage.

The Theology on Tap meeting, which was supposed to be held on Monday at the Rose Hotel in inner-city Chippendale, was canceled after organizer Natalie Ambrose was informed by hotel licensee George Kanellos that the group will no longer be allowed to meet at the hotel's beer garden.

"I'm terribly sorry to inform you that we can no longer let you host your event with us in the beer garden. We've experienced some backlash from customers and within these complaints, they have threatened not to return if these events continue," Kanellos said in an email to Ambrose, according to News.com Australia.

Kanellos said that the decision to cancel the event was made after four different groups of people left the establishment, with some saying they "might not ever come back."

Last month's event, which was organized by the Catholic chaplaincy at the nearby University of Notre Dame, was a talk by American nun Sister Mary Patrice Ahearn about "how to cope with being attacked for your faith."

Among the topics discussed at the event, which is held on the first Monday of every month, were gay marriage and euthanasia.

"It was about the debate of marriage equality that had frustrated these groups and our locals. So for these reasons Natalie we cannot continue to support you guys," Kanellos went on to say.

The Rose Hotel's Facebook accounts were reportedly flooded with negative comments after news outlets broke the story.

The hotel said on Facebook that it was "saddened" to read the negative comments and noted that it has contacted the organizer of Theology on Tap to offer a private function space to hold the event instead of the public beer garden.

"We felt an event with speakers using a microphone was better run within a private space. The offer was declined and at no point did we ban anyone. We are sorry this has upset so many. It was not our intention," the hotel stated.

Australia's poll on gay marriage had closed on Tuesday, but the results will not be released until next week. A survey conducted by The Guardian indicated that 64 percent of people who voted say they cast a "yes" ballot.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's administration had promised to consider a bill to legalize same-sex marriage before the year's end if the results indicate a "yes" vote.