Colorado baker Jack Phillips refuses to celebrate the
“marriage” of two men by baking their wedding cake even though they are
prepared to spend over $1,000.
“If gays come in and want to order birthday cakes or any cakes for any occasion, graduations, or whatever, I have no prejudice against that whatsoever,” Phillips said. “It’s just the wedding cake, not the people, not their lifestyle.”
“We would close down the bakery before we compromise our beliefs," said Phillips.
It
might come to that. Advocates of anti-gender marriage are calling for a boycott of the Lakewood business
and Phillips has received over a thousand emails.
Who
knew defending gender-integrated marriage would be so controversial?
They're not defending "gender-integrated" marriage; they're defending a business owner's right to refuse clientele. I imagine you'd feel the same if this owner refused to give a cake to an interracial couple.
ReplyDeleteIf the couple were gender-integrated, the baker would have made the cake, but the business owner has the right not to celebrate the "marriage" of a gender-exclusive couple. If this couple asked for a cake to celebrate a graduation or birthday, Phillips said he's fine with that. It is specifically the "wedding" of 2 men he is declining to endorse; presumably this would violate his religious beliefs. We have freedom of religion in this country.
DeleteAlso, race and gender are genetic; sexual behavior is not. Who we have sex with is an active choice, quite different from race or gender which we have no control over.
It doesn't matter; either way you're arguing for the right of a business owner to refuse clientele; ergo, though you might disagree with an owner refusing to celebrate an interracial couple, you agree that he has the right to do that. As to whether or not that refusal is grounded in religion is irrelevant; a Muslim owner could refuse to make a cake for a couple where the wife is not in a burka.
Delete