Posted on 02/27/2009 2:07:34 PM PST by nickcarraway
After a personal call from Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, members of the Leatherby family donated $20,000 in support of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that upheld marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Since then, Leatherby’s Family Creamery has faced a boycott, picketing, harassing phone calls and e-mails, obscene Valentine’s Day cards, and threats of physical violence to its employees. ““We got a call from police department and the sheriff’s department saying, ‘We are concerned for your safety,’” says Allan Leatherby. “Is Mother Teresa a hateful person? She has the same beliefs I do.” Leatherby, who has done volunteer work for an AIDS hospice, recounted a conversation with one critic. “After talking with him, I said I used to work at a certain house for gay men dying of AIDS. He broke down in tears and said, ‘One of my partners died there.’” Recounting that he grew up in a Catholic orphanage, “The man said, ‘The Catholic Church had done more for me than anyone else in my life.’ He said he had been abused before he entered the orphanage, and said he wouldn’t have been gay if he had had a strong man in his life.”
A family-owned ice cream shop and restaurant in Sacramento that has been in business for 27 years is struggling to survive – but not just because of the current economic downturn. Leatherby’s Family Creamery on Arden Way has been targeted by proponents of same-sex marriage because the Catholic family that owns it contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign at the request of their bishop.
Members of the Leatherby family gave $20,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign, the successful constitutional amendment passed by voters in November 2008 that bans same-sex marriages in California. Alan Leatherby, 46, a Catholic father of six who has been married to Patty Leatherby for 22 years, told the Sacramento Bee he and other family members decided to make the contribution after being contacted by Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto, who asked for his support.
"We didn't hesitate because the institution of marriage between a man and a woman is something we believe in," Leatherby told the Bee.
But when the Leatherby family’s support of Proposition 8 became a matter of public record, the business was targeted by same-sex marriage supporters. “They've been picketed, employees wearing company sweat shirts have been harassed, angry callers have phoned their creamery at all hours of the day,” the Bee reported. “Hundreds of angry e-mails have come in. Bloggers have targeted their business. Last week, Alan Leatherby received obscene Valentine's Day cards in the mail.”
Leatherby told the newspaper, “There is no way we could have prepared for the kind of reaction we got… Business is actually down and that worries me. Can a business sustain that kind of negativity in the long-term? God only knows."
Shortly after the November election, business at the creamery actually increased when supporters of the proposition made it a point to frequent the business. But since then, that enthusiasm has waned, Leatherby told the Bee.
Leatherby's Creamery and the Leatherby family are well regarded in the Sacramento region because the company has often donated ice cream to area charities, said the Bee. “Leatherby is active in the volunteer community,” the newspaper reported. “He built the stairs and helped renovate Hope House, the one-time AIDS hospice.”
Leatherby, said the Bee, “has tried to answer each e-mail and every phone call because he believes that it is the Christian thing to do. He is not ‘a hater,’ he tells those on the other side of the issue.” In one instance, Leatherby agreed to a meeting over lunch with a 70-year-old man on the opposite side of the same-sex marriage issue, according to the Bee. “It's much better to sit down and talk face to face than make an anonymous phone call," the Prop. 8 opponent, Dan Souza, told the newspaper. "Alan and I are on different sides of the issue, but we've had pleasant talks. We just have different beliefs."
Given the difficulties the family business has faced in the aftermath of its support for Proposition 8, does Leatherby regret his decision? "I really don't," Leatherby told the Bee. "I'm excited to stand up for the institution of marriage and for my faith."
Call in the FBI. Sounds like racketeering. Put the Gaystapo in jail for their criminal tactics.
I live too far away to patronize this business, but I am sending them $10 a month as “profit” for purchases I would make if they were not 50 miles away...
This puts the lie to the idea that the left is about tolerance.
They love tolerance, as long as you believe exactly the way that they do.
People in that area who have the same values as Leatherby need to start going to his store alot again. And if he could find some big, strong conservative bouncer-types to, kind of, hang around to, kind of, intimidate the sissy goons, that would probably help him, too.
It’s a shame this article came out today instead of yesterday. It’s pretty much too late to get the word out to our Sacramento Tea-Partiers to stop by this ice cream place.
I wonder how much shipping is to mail order ice cream....
The left, and the gay community in particular, is notoriously bigoted. If you don’t believe me, try disagreeing with them.
This is basically the result of mental and psychological disorders.
Cannot the same precedence be used against the faggot groups conspiring to commit violence?
I truly hope this publicity will bring many pro-Prop 8 folks out to the Leatherby's ice cream shop in Sacramento, California. I also believe that if this kind of criminal harassment by those who think homosexual behavior should be sanctified as 'marriage' is put in the spotlight more often, the backlash from other ordinary Americans who can tolerate homosexual behavior but don't choose to have it codified as 'marriage', will be a Tsunami.
I wish a Leatherby’s was available near me. Is it sold in any retail stores—other than their own outlets?
Given the difficulties the family business has faced in the aftermath of its support for Proposition 8, does Leatherby regret his decision? "I really don't," Leatherby told the Bee. "I'm excited to stand up for the institution of marriage and for my faith."
My hats off to him.
Tolerance of evil begets intolerance of good.
Actually, they were two different articles.
If you want to do something sweet for the 40 Days group, here's their address:
Wynette Sills
40 Days for Life
P.O. Box 636
Pleasant Grove, CA 95668
Good idea.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.