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First it was the bakers, who refused to bake cakes for same-sex couples to celebrate their weddings. And then it was the florists, who said ‘Hell no’ when it came to supplying flowers for a gay couple’s ceremony. So, is it really any surprise that Victoria miller, owner of W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where same-sex marriage is legal, has refused to sell a wedding dress to a same-sex couple?
Not really surprising, though it isn’t any less frustrating.
Two women — who wish to remain anonymous — called W.W. Bridal Boutique to schedule a fitting for herself and her partner. She was reportedly placed on hold for several minutes, and then told, “Unfortunately she would not be able to schedule an appointment for us because they currently do not service same-sex couples — it’s just not something they do.” She was told that servicing a same-sex couple by selling them a couple of dresses would be a violation of their “religious beliefs.”
Wait. W.W. Bridal Boutique, a business, an inanimate object, has “religious beliefs”? Of course it doesn’t; the beliefs are those of the owner, Victoria Miller, who says that "providing those two girls dresses for a sanctified marriage would break God's law."
Now, the Bloomsburg Town council is involved, saying they will consider whether to propose legislation to ban businesses from refusing to serve gays and lesbians. Miller, for her part, spoke through her attorney to say that she has a "liberty interest" in refusing to take part in a process that would violate "firmly and honestly held religious beliefs."
Let me make this perfectly queer for you, Victoria Miller: you are not being asked to take part in the ceremony; you are not being asked to condone the wedding; you, naturally, would never be invited to the wedding. What you are being asked to do is to open your business, your public business, to everyone and to make a sale.
But if you don’t want money from The Gays then please post a sign in the window of W.W. Bridal Boutique that tells the world that you are a bigot and a homophobe and hiding behind some notion of religious belief in running your business. And please be ready to have The Gays and The Gay Friendlies take their business elsewhere. But do not, when your business fails because of your intolerance, complain that The Gays did this to you.
You did it to yourself.
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via Raw Story
Our couple locally will be old married men before the court gets around to the florist case here. Still waiting.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it with these people? How does it hurt them to make a couple of dresses for a couple of people in love with one another? It's not as if there isn't enough hate around without 'Christians' inventing even more hate.
ReplyDeletethis sux; my in-laws live up there; spouse is a 2-time grad of bloomsburg U.
ReplyDeletenothing but redneck bigoted h8ers in the Alabama part of PA.
I hope the town council rules in favor of the two women, but...h8 is ingrained (and possibly inbred).
Thanks Helen for accusing someone of being hateful as you do the same to "Christians"... Also i think Hate might be a strong word. The lady refused service. As a business owner she has that right. That might be a horrible business decision, and in this case I think it's safe to say it was, but business owners should have that choice.
ReplyDeleteFreedom doesn't mean you force a business owner to make something for you.
As for Anne, go a head an blanket the whole town as bigots when the town is the one standing up for the two lesbians... And again settle down with the hate talk. But claiming that they're inbred must mean you're really open minded and tolerant. Thanks for leading by example.
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ReplyDeleteSorry, gang, I'm with Anonymous on this one. I don’t like how the Pennsylvania lesbians are handling their wedding dress disappointment at all. (The phrase “don’t make a federal case out of it” comes to mind.) They should simply spread the word about the terrible customer service that they received, take their gay dollars somewhere else, and let the laws of supply and demand do the rest. If the LGBT community wants the “Christian” community to be tolerant, then they need to show a little tolerance themselves. Even people who sell dresses have a right to their opinion and, in this instance, no laws were broken.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteYou say "The lady refused service. As a business owner she has that right. "
Would you say that if she refused service to a Black woman, a Jewish woman, a Muslim woman, or is it just gay women that need to suck it up?
This post caused an argument between TH and I. He agreed that the shop owners didnt have to sell to anyone that they didnt want to. So, I turned the tables on him, read him the same article, turning the ladies into sisters who wanted a double wedding, and who were black. Whereupon he said, "That's not right!" And then realized he was upset when it was two black sisters having a double wedding, but felt it was wrong when the lesbians complained.
ReplyDeleteThis same tired battle has been fought many many times. The only real difference this time is before one really couldnt claim religion as a reason for bigotry, sadly it is possible this go around.
The only cure for this that I can see, is for someone to get one of these cases to SCOTUS and have them agree that it's discrimination pure and simple. But with the composition of this court I dont see a clear win.