Posted on 06/15/2015 3:36:45 AM PDT by markomalley
First there was the New Mexico wedding photographer. Then there was the Indiana pizza maker. Now there is the Maryland disc jockey.
The national debate about how to balance religious conscience protections and gay equality flared in the large, mostly liberal Washington, D.C., suburb of Montgomery County Friday, when Dani Tsakounis tried to help her brother hire Ultrasound Deejays for a party. An owner of the business told Tsakounis he would not provide the DJ because Tsakounis’s brother, a Silver Spring therapist, is married to another man and the birthday party they are hosting is for their 60-year-old roommate, who is also gay.
“I just said, ‘We won’t be able to do it, we’re a Christian organization and it would go against our faith, I’m sorry,’” Michael Lampiris, co-owner of Ultrasound Deejays, said Friday.
Tom Tsakounis, 46, was so upset when his sister told him that he posted the news on his neighborhood listserv, prompting calls of sympathy from neighbors. He also registered a complaint with the Montgomery County Human Rights Commission, which hears cases of alleged discrimination.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This battle must happen, being in their business, they had to have known this was coming sooner rather than later.
Correct. It’s a form of slavery to be forced to work against your will.
Yes, they did. In an attempt to help them forego their sinful lives, not to help them celebrate or justify their sins.
How does a birthday party “celebrate or justify their sins,” though?
Straw man. I didn't say that. My response was in a response to another poster stating that Saints associated with sinners.
100% did not “marry” in the orthodox church. Are they being sued? why use the sister? This has all the stench of a set up and not a legitimate case.
I see the eventual conclusion to this as protection via contract law. That is, Christian oriented businesses have been around for a long time, and even list in directories with other Christian businesses.
However, if they offer their services to the general public, the law will not protect them against discrimination suits.
So the way around this is to only offer services through a network of conservative Christian churches. Churches can legally discriminate on grounds of morality, so would act as a *contractual* screen against immoral behavior.
Such contracts are pretty bullet proof in the courts, as long as there is any “consideration”, a small fee paid to the churches to act as a screen, by individual businesses.
In practice, the potential client would call the business to request goods or services. The business would tell them that they exclusively provide these goods or services by contract through a list of churches in the area, so which church are the clients going through?
The clients won’t know of the contract, so the business lists for them the churches they cater to. If they do not want church approval, are secular, are immoral, etc., then the business can legally turn them down, as it would be a violation of their contract.
The business can even provide a checklist to the churches about acceptable behavior they can ask potential clients about. If the potential clients lie, it is a violation of the separate contract, and the business can refuse those goods or services.
Budget cut hit: “Montgomery County Human Rights Commission.”
One Friday in the Fall of 1978 Six Flags Magic Mountain (which used-to rent the park out for private parties of mega-organizations during the off-season) had a "Gay Night" where the attendees bought their tickets from local organizations and the park was otherwise close to the public on Fridays that time of year. When the gates opened 20,000 wild-eyed crazed adults came running through the gates screaming, and it went down hill from there. At the time I was working in souvenir stores, so I didn't get to see as many of the "sites" that the ride operators and the restroom-maintenance people saw. Suffice it to say those are tales best left untold after all these years. I was 17 at the time, but the events of that night indelibly burned into my consciousness everything anyone needs to know about these mentally disturbed people and what they are all about.
The Bible gives one and only one justification for divorce: fornication, or sex outside of the marriage.
This goes back to Mosaic law, or the law given to the Jews in the time of Moses and Aaron.
ANY other reason for *modern* divorce is outside of Christian law because Jesus didn’t come to modify the law, not one jot or tittle.
Modern christians forget the Bible must be adhered to very narrowly.
I know there are folks on this forum who can cite chapter and verse the scripture that teaches this. Unfortunately I can’t.
Not to birthdays but to the lifestyle of the participants.
Working the birthday party makes him a participant in the party which would mean he condones the lifestyles of the participants.
By condoning by participating he is breaking the law of God.
When Moses was on the mountain receiving the law from God, there were those who didn’t condone the worshipping of the idol.
By *not* separating themselves from those who did worship the idol, they were as guilty as the active participants.
God condemned the Jews to wander the desert until that *entire* generation had passed away.
The law of God is narrow whether we like it or not.
Associating with sinners is not the point.
This wasn’t about the business owner hanging out with anyone, sinner or not, in his free time. This was about the business owner being paid for his skills for doing something that he objects to on a 1st amendment basis (right to free speech and freedom of religion).
I’m so sick of the “Christians don’t want to associate with sinners but they are sinners themselves” accusations. Anyone who claims that Christians “h8” homosexuals or claims Christians are “homophobic” is a bigot against Christians.
That would depend on whether you feel that Luke and Mark were the accurate description of what Jesus said, in which case there is no justification for divorce. Or if you go with Matthew, in which case there is one loophole in Jesus's no-divorce position. Or if you go along with most of the Protestant sects who have decided that Jesus didn't know what He was talking about and when it comes to divorce it's no holds barred. As a Catholic I'm taught that marriage is forever and divorce is not allowed because it leads to an adulterous lifestyle. So if this DJ outfit is serious about following Biblical morality then maybe they need to decline weddings where the bride or groom have been divorced? It's an easy question to ask.
I guess. He already is deciding what constitutes "Biblical morality" as it is.
I’m amazed Washington Poop actually used the word G-d in an article. Isn’t that illegal for them?
Oh, right in the heart of liberal-land!
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Seriously? You've never been to a gay party, have you? As a woman, I've been to a few that were thrown for gay male business associates. The language alone ran like a sewer. Then there was the incidental drug use, the "art" on the walls and having to witness PDAs. No, thanks. The ones I went to would definitely violate the conscience of a believer. Who's the bigot here?
Apparently you think you are.
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.