Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
We have seen a number of militant gay couples go to Christian small businesses like flower shops, wedding photographers, wedding chapel owners, and t-shirt makers and demand to be served. At almost every turn, anti-discrimination ordinances or that any business was a “public accommodation”, along with biased bureaucrats and judges, either put these businesses out of business or have put them into years long court battles that may well bankrupt them even if they win on First Amendment grounds.
Now, what happens when the shoe is on the other foot? Is a gay person allowed to “discriminate” against Christian customers?
A gay Seattle coffee shop owner kicked a group of Christians out of his coffee shop Sunday, after declaring he would [Rule #1 prevents me from pasting this in -Skip]. The owner heatedly tells the Christians to leave his shop immediately in a video posted to Facebook by Abolish Human Abortion, a Christian group seeking to end the practice of abortion.
“I’m gay, you have to leave,” the owner tells the group. “This is offensive to me. I own the place. I have the right to be offended.” The group tried to explain that they hadn’t placed any in the shop, but the owner repeatedly told them to”shut up.”
“There’s nothing you can say. This is you and I don’t want these people in this place,” the owner says. The group asks why he can’t tolerate their presence, prompting the owner to ask them if they would watch him have sex with his boyfriend.
“Can you tolerate my presence? Really? If I go get my boyfriend and [Rule #1 prevents me from pasting this in -Skip] right here you’re going to tolerate that? Are you going to tolerate it?” the owner asked. “Answer my f***ing question! No, you’re going to sit right here and f***ing watch it! Leave all of you! Tell all your f*cking friends don’t come here!”
The group gets up to leave, as one woman among them says, “just know that Christ can save you from that lifestyle.”
…According to the Liberator, the Christian group had been handing out pamphlets to Seattle locals on abortion, sin and the Bible. The group entered Bedlam Coffee to take a break and drink coffee when a barista went upstairs to tell the owner that the group was there.
“They had good coffee,” Caytie Davis, a group member…
No, I am not going to post the video – NSFW and it would break my Rule #1.
Now, I am betting that none of the Christians will sue this gay guy the way that gays have deliberately sued Christians (see I Cor 6:1-11). I do hope that one of them does, though. No, not for revenge but for a matter of Law and the prevention of the continuation of a double standard simply because of a “protected group” status. It should be intolerable to any US Citizen that a Progressive identity group should be treated any differently than any other normal person not included in that group (and I hazard to guess that since Christianity is a group hated by Progressives, they’d never be anywhere on their totem pole). Frankly, this is “what’s good for the goose should be good for the gander” (and no, not an “eye for an eye”). We all should be treated the same.
Let me put it this way. While I think a suit should be brought, if for just the reason that it would help to put this Politically Correctness should be fought and have a stake put through its heart, I also would like to put the First Amendment forward again:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
In addition to the Free Exercise clause, there is also the Free Association clause and it does have a role to play in this. I truly believe that Christian small businesses should have the right to refuse someone service on religious grounds and beliefs. This country was built on the idea of conscience and that Govt should not abridge that Individual concept in regular life. If one cannot life their beliefs we are in tyranny when beliefs are mandated by Government.
Thus, I believe this guy should be within his rights and telling those customers to leave should be fine. Why should he serve those that he doesn’t want to? Remember, Jim Crow laws were created by Democrats and it was Government that mandated their enforcement and not necessarily the the individual business owners. He put his savings, time, and sweat into it – just like those Christian business owners.
Let them not serve customers – the Free Marketplace will punish them financially by the group that is told to leave and then by word of mouth or an outright boycott. I have no problem with that at all, as we have seen that the other side may well rush in (as we did with Chick-fil-a protests because the family owners supported traditional marriage values and the gays pushed a boycott – and then Normals showed up in overwhelming numbers and effectively broke that boycott). We’ve seen businesses rail against the police – but only as long as it took to close their doors as they infuriated their customer base just like the NFL is in the process of learning that basing a protest on a lie is hurting their bottom line.
(H/T: Daily Caller)
