We’re in the midst of a social experiment that treats gays like people. Tensions are building as more states legalize same-sex marriage and the Christian right clings to ancient taboos.
Gay relationships threaten the fabric of the Christian universe. They are zealously uncompromising on the issue. Do they have post-traumatic stress from being thrown to the lions? Has their own non-heterosexual curiosity become intolerable as they witness homosexuals living authentic lives? It doesn’t matter. Christians have the right to be exactly how they are.
But knowing how they are, why would a gay couple go to a Christian bakery for their wedding cake? Maybe to make an example of them.
Two lesbian brides-to-be are suing a bakery in Gresham, Oregon for refusing to make their wedding cake. They estimate their emotional damage at $100,000. Their wedding memoirs will include bagging some Christians.
Besides a lawsuit, the bakers also face fines for discrimination. But that’s just the icing on the cake. Following months of relentless attacks by angry homosexual activists, the bakery shut down. The LGBT militia inundated them with threats, break-ins, harassing phone calls and e-mails. It expanded the bullying to vendors associated with the bakery. The bakery’s client base abandoned it. The owners pulled their kids out of school because of the media firestorm. Mob tactics succeeded in enforcing equal love rights.
Are the bakers really victims? It’s a cake, for God’s sake. They weren’t asked to bless the marriage, just bake a cake. What biblical passage says, “Thou shalt not bake a wedding cake for lesbians”? A business operating under a public license has to abide by public laws. No one goes to a bakery to get a sermon. They not only denied the women their cake, they called them “an abomination unto the Lord.” Are they absolutely sure they haven’t baked cakes for illegitimate children, members of the KKK, Hitler devotees, or pedophiles?
If you want to discriminate under the cover of religion, don’t operate a for-profit business. Or lie. You can still practice bigotry and stay in business. There are plenty of legitimate and legal reasons to decline service. Or make a lousy cake.
There are no legal statutes against bad-tasting, poorly decorated wedding cakes.
Gays won the right to buy a cake from someone who doesn’t want to sell them one, but eating food handled by people you’ve offended isn’t the smartest thing to do. Having your cake and eating it too might come with a lingering after-taste of Christian urine.
The number of gay couples suing businesses is growing. Gay couples sued bakeries in five states over the past year. In Washington, a same-sex couple sued a florist who denied service for their wedding. In Kentucky, a T-shirt company was sued for refusing to print gay themes. Two gay men in Iowa leveled a discrimination charge against the owner of a bistro for refusing to host their wedding ceremony. No shoes, no shirt, no morals, no service.
The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against Christian owners of a photography studio who refused to photograph a gay wedding. The studio argued they didn’t want to convey conflicted views of marriage through photos. The line becomes blurred between bigotry and artistic vision. Given that photography is a means of artistic expression, shouldn’t they be free to decide who and what they photograph? Should artists be forced by the state to use their talent in ways that violate their conscience?
Baking, floristry and catering can all be considered art. But once you open a business and offer these artistic services to the public for money, you’re required to follow the same rules as any other business. The public is everybody, not just people you share the same viewpoints with.
Waiters, bartenders, musicians, reception hall owners, tuxedo and gown fitters, wedding guests – some of the people involved in making a wedding are bound to be uncomfortable with the idea of homosexuality. Some gays themselves are uncomfortable with it. Going after uncooperative vendors like a swarm of yellow jackets won’t change anyone’s beliefs.
Refusing service won’t change anyone’s sexual preference, though. Christians want to counteract what they see as out-of-control progressivism. For them, it’s a spiritual battle between the godly and the godless. They try to enforce morality.
However, gays try to enforce normality. They demand that everyone celebrate gay love. Uncooperative vendors will be punished. Both sides suffer from inflated persecution complexes. Neither side wants to be seen as catering to the other.
Both are willing to stoop to the lowest levels of decency over some cake.