Do people who believe sexual orientation is more important
than gender have the right to impose their beliefs on business owners?
Two New York women who say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are lesbians have filed a discrimination complaint.
Advocates say the complaint filed with the state Division of Human Rights is among the first of its kind since New York legalized same-sex weddings last year.
Melisa Erwin and Jennie McCarthy, of Albany, say they filed the complaint Oct. 11 after Liberty Ridge Farm told them they could not use the site for their wedding next summer.
Despite critique, owner Robert Gifford is adamant about not hosting gay marriages at Liberty Ridge.
“I think it’s our right to choose who we market to, like any business,” he said in an interview with WNYT last week. ”We are a family business and we just feel we ought to stay down the family path.”
Legalizing same sex marriage gives people the right to sue
business owners who support natural marriage. In lopsided logic, courts have been forcing people who
believe marriage should be gender-integrated to pay fines to gender-segregated
couples. All in the name of
tolerance and equality.
Defend pro-gender marriage. Because gender matters to everyone, including people with
same-sex attraction.
Oh wow. Robert Gifford wants to be able to DISCRIMINATE on the basis of sexual orientation. I am quite sure there is a law being broken by Mr. Gifford as a place of public accommodation.
ReplyDeleteNow Fran, I once again ask you, would you defend his right to object to an interracial marriage if his religion said it was wrong? Or an interfaith wedding if his religion said it was wrong? Oppose one oppose all, Fran.
Race is not a behavior; it is genetic. Whereas who we have sex with and how...those are behaviors. Interracial marriages are beautiful. I don't know any religion that opposes them, certainly my religion doesn't.
DeleteAs for DISCRIMINATION, these two women discriminate against gender. Gender is genetic. These two women deprive any children they adopt from having a man in the home, from having a father. Why do you believe it's ok to discriminate against gender? Is excluding men and fatherhood beneficial for children?
Fran-
ReplyDeleteIt's irrelevant, the fact of the matter is that a religion COULD oppose them. Whether or not YOU can think of a religion that opposes interracial marriage is irrelevant. So please, stop side-stepping and answer the question. If you refuse to answer the question I can only assume that you Fran oppose that kind of discrimination based on religious belief and would not support the business owner in that situation, which is very hypocritical.
Second, those women don't break any laws by adopting a child or by getting married. This man clearly broke a law by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.
"This man clearly broke a law by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation." Yes, this is the crux of the matter. These non-discrimination and same sex marriage laws violate freedom of religion and thus should be overturned. Christians, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims should not be forced against their consciences to follow the religious beliefs of those who believe segregating genders in marriage is equivalent to natural marriage.
DeleteThere is a huge difference between discriminating against a person, and discriminating against a behavior. People with SSA should be treated with dignity. That does not mean that we need to sanction their actions (segregation).
Why is it ok for the women to discriminate against gender, but not the business owner?
You still haven't answered my question, Fran. If it were against a man's religion to marry interracially, would you support his right to be not only morally opposed to such things, but to also DENY business to an interracial couple?
DeleteYour lack of an answer can only mean that you don't support that owner which means you only support the right of business owners who share your morals, and thus, being unable to see things from a lens outside your own moral one, are in the wrong in this argument.
Oh, and incase you don't believe me:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2004_fall/forde.htm
As he read the book, Forde-Mazrui said, he repeatedly saw that opponents’ arguments against interracial relationships mirrored those of gay rights opponents. Like the arguments against gay marriage, “Much of the opposition to interracial relationships was grounded in religious beliefs.”