Posted on 10/04/2013 6:35:58 AM PDT by reaganaut1
As more states permit gay couples to marry or form civil unions, wedding professionals in at least six states have run headlong into state antidiscrimination laws after refusing for religious reasons to bake cakes, arrange flowers or perform other services for same-sex couples.
The issue gained attention in August, when the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that an Albuquerque photography business violated state antidiscrimination laws after its owners declined to snap photos of a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony.
Similar cases are pending in Colorado, Illinois, New York, Oregon and Washington, and some experts think the underlying legal question—whether free-speech and religious rights should allow exceptions to state antidiscrimination laws—could ultimately wind its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Religious-rights advocates argue that the Constitution affords people the right to abstain from a ceremony that violates their religious beliefs. "It's an evisceration of our freedom of association," said John Eastman, the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, a group opposed to legalizing same-sex marriage.
Supporters of gay marriage argue that the businesses objecting to working on same-sex ceremonies face an uphill battle, as courts are likely to view the cases as a matter of civil rights. They say the U.S. Supreme Court has already addressed the issues in question on several occasions when it rejected arguments against laws requiring businesses to serve African-Americans.
"This really isn't a new fight," said Jennifer Pizer, a director with Lambda Legal, a nonprofit civil-rights organization that advocates on behalf of same-sex couples seeking the right to marry.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
fags induce the grounds for prejudice into the picture. Just another show of their sick minds.
If a same sex couple wants to use a bakery for their "ceremony", there's nothing in the law that prevents them from quoting a price of $5,000 for the cake, to include a nonrefundable deposit of $4,000.
If the LGBT bullies seek to persist, the owners can accommodate them by saying they'll donate all profits to the local women's shelter, or another organization of their choosing.
Guerrilla war, not a frontal assault is the way to defeat the enemy.
Easy solution. Make lousy photographs and crappy cakes for homos. Word will get around and the homos will stay away.
the first gay-owned business that “balks” at serving a Christian event will be praised as a civil rights hero
more likely they will spit or copulate on your cake though
If a wedding photographer refuses to fix your car, is it discrimination? Why should they be required to attend fake weddings? It’s not their job.
The gays would absolutely embrace bad pictures and cakes. more grounds to refuse payment, or sue. even bakers and photographers who had done a good job would be caught up in it.
If someone told me, I don’t want to cater your reception because you’re Catholic, or right-wing, or you might have guns on the property or you’re ugly, or whatever, I’d say thanks for telling me that, and move on. I wouldn’t want someone with a bad attitude catering my celebration.
Large, non-refundable deposit up front. Or do it at a price so low that it is not practical to sue. Anything to not have to deal with sexual deviants.
The solution is simple. Every Christian photographer posts the following on their web site:
“NOTICE: All proceeds from homosexual wedding photography are donated to NARTH- The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality”
How about not baking wedding cakes? Sell the various iced layers and let the customers construct them at the wedding venue. Sell the bride and groom (smirk) decoration as well as a can of icing needed to inscribe their cake.
Once the cake leaves the shop who cares what they do with it.
I don’t think you can do that. Charging a different price based on a protected trait is also discrimination. Just consider a more traditional scenario of a restaurant having a separate menu for blacks with all prices doubled. There is no doubt that the courts would consider this discriminatory.
The only solution I can see is to stop providing service to weddings altogether. It should still be legal to discriminate between a wedding and other type of customers, since “wedding” is not in itself a protected activity.
As a side note, I have some friends and family who HATE Chick-fil-a for being PRO-heterosexual and now refuse to eat there.
So, when they come and visit, I make a POINT to buy Chick-fil-a and get extra and offer it to them. I have YET to have ONE of them, NOT A SINGLE ONE, refuse to eat the food. It is good food, they know it is and they know that money was sent to organizations they don’t like, but who can really refuse good food?
There’s an easy workaround to this. Agree to do the work but then do a crappy job with the photos, cake, flowers or whatever. They’ll get upset and you can offer to refund their money. They can post nasty notes on Yelp and be sure to tell all their gay friends.
The business suffers a minor reputation hit but, so what? You weren’t marketing for these people anyway.
Or you can take the position that your profession is like any other business and gladly take their money and work humbly as unto the Lord to the best of your ability.
Heck, you could even pass out special business cards at the wedding with scriptural references (just the reference, not the verse) where God condemns homosexual behavior. 99% of them will never look the verse up but the ones that do will have received a special passage from you that MIGHT get them to rethink their behavior.
The easiest thing is just to have other bookings that day.
There is a civil-disobedience solution to this:
Let me first state that I video-tape weddings as a side gig, so I know of what I speak.
Weddings, are by definition PRIVATE events. Where the wedding party can invite who they want, and that invitee cannot and will not be stopped from performing whatever service is asked of them by the wedding party while they are in attendance.
I have made it clear that I only video-tape private events in which I accept the invitation as a guest. Get it?
The bride invited me... and asked me to take pictures. The groom invited me; I sent back an RSVP, and they called and asked me to bake a cake.
The mother of the groom invited my spouse, and asked if her spouse could bring flower from my flower shop for the event.
Oh, and I’m ALWAYS booked, or my plates full. Period.
The main rule is NOT TO SUBMIT. The sodiites know damn well there are people in the wedding business catering almost exclusively to them. These court cases are mere intimidation. If we surrender, it’ll only get worse.
No one can say anything if you do your task as a GUEST of the wedding party.
That example is probably the best way to good. although the gays will lead a boycott against the buisness for supporting “snake oil”.
If the wedding planner is forced to bake a cake for sodomite weddings, then they should provide lots of Russian vodka to the gays and watch the gays throw a tantrum. Gays are boycotting all things Russian right now.
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.