Good News: Barronelle Stutzman's Hate Cost her $5,000 and Her Job

I have been blogging about Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington, for years now, and I’m hoping this will be the last time.

Back story: Barronelle had a gay coulee, Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, who used her business for a decade, buying flowers for their birthdays, for their anniversary, for holidays, for condolences, and, well, just because. And when marriage equality came to Washington state, Ingersoll and Freed went to Arlene’s Flowers to order for their wedding, and that’s when Barronelle told them that her religion forbid her from selling flowers to gay men for their wedding.

And thus the lawsuits began; Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed sued for discrimination based on sexual orientation, and Barronelle Stutzman whined about the Baby Jeebus telling her not to sell flowers to The Gays … well, sell to them for everything but their wedding. The case went back and forth and round and round and now, it finally looks like it’s over, eight years after it started.

A settlement agreement has been secured between the anti-LGBTQ+ Alliance Defending Freedom and the ACLU which finally ends that lawsuit brought against Stutzman without forcing her to act against her religious beliefs or to pay potentially ruinous attorneys’ fees—a threat she has endured for years.

But all is not golden for Stutzman; she will retire from the business she owns—meaning her bigotry is no longer on display—and she will withdraw a pending petition for rehearing at the Supreme Court –her case was heard once and she lost because … hate—and she must pau Ingersoll and she must pay Ingersoll and Freed $5,000.

Not a lot of money but, just think, if Barronelle Stutzman hadn’t been such a hate-filled bigot, she might have made a few thousand dollars for Ingersoll and Freed for their wedding, and then continued to make more from them over these last eight years, but, instead, she has to cough up the coins.

Let me say it as simply as I can for people like Barronelle Stutzman: if a gay couple asks you to bake a cake, or make a dress, or take some photos, or rent them a venue, for their wedding there are not asking you to take part in their event. They are simply making a business transaction. It only becomes an issue when y’all whip out your Bibles, which, if you read carefully, says nothing about denying services to gay couples who wish to marry.

You read the Bible wrong and spewed hate, and in the long run, you lost.

Good.

Bye.

Barronelle Stutzman Gets Busted!

UPDATE: Judge Rules Against Florist Who Refused Service To Gay Couple

An Open Letter To Barronelle Stutzman

I Didn't Say It ....

Barronelle Stutzman Is Still Whining And Lying

Bobservations

Bobservations

I’m gonna give you two Carlos stories this week; this one and the one that really kills me, down the page a bit.

Y’all know some of the Casa Bob y Carlos rules, one of which is I do the laundry. Well, as happen with cats, there is some hair-balling that goes on, and one night Carlos, who sleeps with a pillow on his feet, kicked said pillow to the floor, where it was in the perfect spot for MaxGoldberg to puke on it; and he did.

Carlos set about cleaning off the pillow and washing the pillowcase. The following morning, I was doing laundry and found the pillowcase in the washer, put it in the dryer and turned it on, and then began washing some clothes. Later I removed the pillowcase from the dryer as Carlos was walking by the laundry room, and I noticed all the dried hairball, um, “stuff” still on the pillow.

He hadn’t washed it, he just threw it in the washer and when I found it I thought he had washed it, so I tossed it in the dryer and then dried to Max Vomit™ onto the pillowcase.

After a huge discussion about the importance of washing materials that have been puked upon almost instantly so the puke doesn’t set, I then washed the pillowcase myself, and, luckily, all signs of hair-ballage were gone.

Can you imagine Tiffany testifying? 

I mean, she’d probably admit that Daddy kidnapped the Lindbergh baby if it saved her ass.

This is rich … Philip Godlewski, a spreader of QAnon conspiracies—most of which suggests that every Democrat and Hollywood lib’rul is a pedophile or sex trafficker—has pleaded guilty to lower charges of corrupting a minor in 2010.

Godlewski is currently incarcerated over a bad check arrest but while on trial for that charge came evidence of his arrest for a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl while he was serving as a high school baseball coach came to light.

Oh, the hypocrisy; it’s like all those homophobic Republicans that get caught looking for a blow job in an airport men’s room.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in of Richland, Washington, who was fined by the state for refusing to make a flower arrangement for a same-sex wedding due to her ALLEGED Christian beliefs.

Good. Now take a seat, Barronelle, er, Karen.

The FBI is building its case against Robert Morss, an ALLEGED leader of the Capitol Insurrection, and have pieced together how he planned the attack.

Legos. Yes, FBI investigators seized a “fully constructed US Capitol Lego set” from Morss, along with a notebook containing instructions on how to create a “hometown militia,” court records published by The Smoking Gun revealed.

Legos. He used Legos, which once again proves that MAGAts are stupid.

I have an update on Tuxedo’s health. He had a recheck at the vet’s office last week for blood work and urine samples, and his kidneys are doing fine, and his numbers are good. All thanks to his new diet of Science Diet K/D that helps with kidney issues. His back legs are still wobbly, but that’s due to the muscle loss, but he’s a happy little camper and has made the best of his “new normal.”

And that story brings me to More Tales of Carlos. But first, a back story.

When we lived in Miami and had many rescue cats, Scruffy was the unofficial leader. When Scruffy went to breakfast all the other cars came to breakfast to, but never before Scruffy. When Scruffy was ready for dinner, the other cats followed suit. And when we rescued Tuxedo, he learned right away that Scruffy—whom I often called ‘old man,’ in that sort of English sense, like ‘old chap’—was the boss and Tuxedo did whatever Scruffy did; he loved Scruffy. So, when Scruffy passed away, Tuxedo took his spot as the leader of the cats, and I took to calling him ‘Old Man.’

One day this week, I walked into the living room and Tuxedo was sleeping in one of the chairs. I leaned over the chair, gave him a smooch, and asked:

“What are you doing, Old Man?”

From the dining room, Carlos said:

“Just working with my iPad.”

Tuxedo and I died laughing.

Sears and Kmart are selling Ashli Babbitt "American Patriot" shirts

Perhaps they forgot that Ashli Babbitt was shot once in the shoulder by a Capitol police lieutenant while attempting to crawl through a broken window leading to the Speaker's Lobby outside the US House of Representatives' chamber. She wasn't crawling through glass to attend a picnic or take a tour; she was part of an insurrection.

Shame on her, and shame on Sears & Kmart. If only I shopped there I could boycott them both.

UPDATE: Both stores have stopped selling this shiz after receiving backlash for their idiocy.

Alex Beattie gained fame, er, notoriety on Love Island, a reality show where he began a "showmance" with a woman called Montana Brown. 

As happens with these things, the couple broke up after the show, but Alex, with his cute face and his hot little body, suddenly found himself a career in modeling and signed a six-figure modelling deal. He models a lot of underwear, but I ain’t mad at that because he looks good.

And judging by this photo taken at an airport, he knows how to pack. That’s all.

Bobservations

First, a little back story … whenever, and wherever, we go out to eat, and the bill arrives. Carlos looks at it and makes this high-pitched squealed that is part baby Harp seal and part Howler Monkey, and asks:

“Why so much?”

As if he has no idea how much anything costs.

Cut to the other morning, over breakfast, and he’s recounting a dream he’d had.

“I dreamt I went to see Dr. Rojas, and she made me wear a pair of contacts. And when I put them in, I had no more Retinitis Pigmentosa. I could see everything and read everything. And then she told me the cost was $60.00. I asked her is that was a one-time charge or a recurring fee.”

“Wait. What? Your doctor basically fixes your eyes and you’re questioning a sixty-dollar fee? Sheesh, even in your dreams you’re cheap.”

Goddess love him, though I didn’t get to ask if he made that Howler Monkey Harp Seal cry in his dream.

Okay, so either he has the biggest ego—and belly—known to man, or he’s just plain stupid.

Well, in the case 0f _____ it’s actually both.

Last week, while commemorating D-Day, world leaders signed a proclamation marking the 75th anniversary of the invasion.  And while everyone else, every other world leader there that day, signed the proclamation at the bottom, the Fat Bastard scrawled his KKK-looking signature at the top of the document.

I guess he thought D-Day was DumbassDonald-Day.

The Washington State Supreme Court has just handed down a unanimous ruling against Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene's flowers, who refused to make flower arrangements for a longtime customer because he was marrying a man. The State Supreme Court ruling means that "Stutzman's refusal to provide flowers to the same-sex couple constituted discrimination against sexual orientation."

Last year the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Stutzman's case, but did not rule out reviewing it in the future. Take a seat, Barronelle, once again you’ve been judged a bigot.

At last Sunday’s Tony Awards, actress-singer Ali Stroker by being the first person in a wheelchair to take home the Tony for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical for her role as Ado Annie in the revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!"

During her acceptance speech, Stroker took the time to recognize any kid at home with a disability who dreams of being an actor:

"This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena ... You are."

Brava!

In its first ever statement on gender identity, the Vatican rejected the idea that transgender people can change their gender identity in a document titled “Male and Female He Created Them.”

Yes, a bunch of old men in flowing gowns and crowns are telling our trans brothers and sisters about gender and gender identity. And yet these same priests are virtually silent when it comes to their child-raping brethren, so pardon me if I don’t believe a goddamned word that slithers from their mouths.

Now, for something completely different, model Adrien France, who is actually French, and from  Pontault-Combault, France.

Tall, gorgeous, and packing. That’s enough to make a bishop rip off his robes!

Just sayin’.

Barronelle Stutzman Is Still Whining And Lying

Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers, you might remember, is the florist who sold flowers to gay couple Rob Ingersoll and Curt Freed for their gay birthdays and gay anniversaries and gay Christmases and gay holidays but then refused to sell them flowers for their gay wedding because … gay.

And so they sued for discrimination and she cried foul; she lost the case and she cried Christian persecution; she was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and says Rob and Curt tried to take away her home and business.

And now she’s at it again, writing whining in an opted for the Seattle Times, entitled “Why a friend is suing me: the Arlene’s Flowersstory,” and still trying to explain why her special brand of bigotry is okay.

In her op-ed she says that she and Rob Ingersoll were friends, and they shared a love for flowers and the creativity of flower arranging; she also says she knew that he was in a relationship with a man, and wants us all to know that he knew she was a Christian. That might be true, but I imagine that, after buying flowers from her for ten years, he didn’t know she was a bigot because, for those ten years, she loved working with Rob and sharing ideas for floral arrangements for the special events in his life … well, except for possibly the most special event in his life, the legal marriage to the man he loved and his request that she design something special:

“If all he’d asked for were prearranged flowers, I’d gladly have provided them. If the celebration were for his partner’s birthday, I’d have been delighted to pour my best into the challenge. But as a Christian, weddings have a particular significance.

Marriage does celebrate two people’s love for one another, but its sacred meaning goes far beyond that. Surely without intending to do so, Rob was asking me to choose between my affection for him and my commitment to Christ. As deeply fond as I am of Rob, my relationship with Jesus is everything to me. Without Christ, I can do nothing.”

Actually, you dim bulb, he was asking you to do what you’d been doing for him for years: create a flower arrangement. Your religion should have no play in that whatsoever and I bet the Baby Jeebus would come down on my side of that argument because of that whole “Judge not” business in the Bible.

But Barronelle judges; she then says Rob told her that he understood her position, and that she suggested three other florists in the neighborhood who weren’t as narrow-minded and bigoted and anti-gay. And then he sued …

“For artists, creativity is the very core of who we are. Our ability to draw on our deepest beliefs and unique sensibilities enables us to create one-of-a-kind works of art and works of the heart. An artist really can’t separate his or her work from the soul. Even if I’d tried to do that for Rob, some part of my heart would not really have been in what I was doing. A man with Rob’s artistic eye would have seen that and been disappointed.”

So, because Rob is creative he should understand bigotry and intolerance? He should understand that breaking the law because you believe the Baby Jeebus told you so is okay? It’s not, Barronelle, and as much as you whine and try to rewrite history it’s not ever going to be okay. I will say this again to you in the hopes that you might get it this time and just shut your yap:

You were not asked to partake in their wedding; you were not an invited guest; you were not any part of their wedding. Your flowers were to be included in the ceremony and they have nothing to do with your faith whatsoever. It’s flowers; it’s a service you provide to anyone and everyone who comes into your shop because that’s why you opened a shop and because it’s the law that you not discriminate against anyone.

And then she plays that tired card that Rob Ingersoll and Curt Freed were suing her to take her business and her home and her livelihood which is an outright lie.

“I’ve never questioned Rob’s and Curt Freed’s right to live out their beliefs. And I wouldn’t have done anything to keep them from getting married, or even getting flowers. Even setting aside my warm feelings for them, I wouldn’t have deliberately taken actions that would mean the end of being able to do the work I love or risk my family’s home and savings.”

You’re a liar, Barronelle Stutzman; the fine you were ordered to pay was a thousand dollars … not your home … not your business … not your life. I don’t think the Baby Jeebus looks too kindly on liars.

“This case is not about refusing service on the basis of sexual orientation or dislike for another person who is preciously created in God’s image. I sold flowers to Rob for years. I helped him find someone else to design his wedding arrangements. I count him as a friend.”

I love that she keeps saying she sold flowers to Rob for years, but this one time, for this one event, it was suddenly just too much; she cannot play the “I have no problem with gay people getting married” and then refuse service to them. But let’s listen to her at the end:

“I want to believe that a state as diverse as Washington, with our long commitment to personal and religious freedoms, would be as willing to honor my right to make those kinds of choices as it is to honor Rob’s right to make his. That’s not endorsing a negative thing, as I’ve been accused of doing. It’s promoting good things: reason, fairness and mutual tolerance.”

Oh Siddown, you fool. You have a right to your own personal religious freedoms, you just cannot …. And I’ll say it slowly so you might finally understand it:

You        cannot        use        your         personal        religious        beliefs       to         deny         service        at       your       public        business        to       anyone.

Seriously, Barronelle. Stop talking. Stop trying to make yourself the victim here. You’re a bigot hiding behind the robes of Jesus and, once again, he’s very disappointed in you.

Seattle Times

I Didn't Say It ....

Rick Perry, accused criminal and former Texas governor, on why  people should vote conservative in the next presidential election:

"Something I want you all to think about is that the next president of the United States, whoever that individual may be, could choose up to three, maybe even four members of the Supreme Court. Now this isn't about who's going to be the president of the United States for just the next four years. This could be about individuals who have an impact on you, your children, and even our grandchildren. That's the weight of what this election is really about."

Well, let’s see … we know Miss Ricky won’t be president, and we know that more Americans would choose an openly gay president over an openly evangelical one, and we know that there are fewer people of faith in this country now than in previous years so, um, yeah.

Vote, and set up SCOTUS to be fair and open-minded for the coming generations.

[photo source]

Andy Stanley, an Atlanta pastor, and the son of a Baptist preacher who once hired armed guards on horseback to protect his church from Atlanta gay pride, voicing his support for LGBT youth:

“There is not consensus in this room when it comes to same-sex attraction. There is not consensus in this room when it comes to gay marriage. We just can’t continue to look into the filter of our politics at our spirituality. It’s got to be the other way around — and specifically when it comes to this issue. If all the Christians for just one year, would quit looking at porn, would quit smoking weed, would quit having premarital sex, would quit committing adultery, would pay their taxes, and every church just foster one kid — in one year our nation would feel different. There are so many Christians, so basically — if we would just be better Christians, everything we would like to see changed for the most part would change.”

It’s that whole ‘Judge not lest ye be judged,’ thing mixed in  with some ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’

[photo source]

Ben Carson, future failed presidential candidate, on his opposition to marriage equality:

“Recognize that if you change the definition of marriage for one group, what do you say to the next group? Do you say, ‘Well, we changed it for this group, but that’s it, we’re not changing it for anybody else.’ Does that seem fair?” 

Carson wouldn’t elaborate on those ‘other groups’ but he has in the past said bigamy was a possibility, and has also compared The Gays to pedophiles and people who have sex with animals.

Once a bigot …

[photo source]

Barronelle Stutzman, that Washington florist who refused to sell flowers for a same-sex couple’s wedding because God, in an op-ed published by the Washington Post:

"Our government is supposed to protect our First Amendment rights — freedom of religion and expression. But the government is telling me I can only be a faithful Christian within the four walls of my church. That’s impossible and it’s unjust. What would Rob and Curt say if the government told them they could only be who they are in their own homes? But whatever the state says and however they want to try to punish me, they can’t change my faith. What happens in my business or my life is in God’s hands. Having a clear conscience means much more to me than any amount of money or my business. Rob and Curt have their beliefs about marriage and aren’t being stopped by the state from living them out. I only ask for the same freedom."

Barronelle. Honey., stop trying to squeeze out all Fifteen Minutes. No one was asking you to participate or condone same-sex marriage, they were asking for flowers.

That’s all it was, but you took it as a personal attack because, well, I’m guessing you’re nuts.

And you need to sit down because the more you talk the more you alienate people and then your business goes under and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself, though I imagine you’ll run to Fox News and blame The Gays.

[photo source]

Phyllis Schlafly, anti-gay wingnut and Eagle Forum founder, on how marriage equality advocates are trying “to wipe out” Christianity:

“Have you noticed that only Christian small-businesspeople have been harassed and sued for refusing to participate in same-sex marriages even though our fast-growing immigrant populations, you know of Muslims, Hindus and other faiths are also opposed to that concept? They want to wipe out the Christian religion. And most of these other religions do not recognize same-sex marriage. I assume there are some Muslim bakers and photographers and other people who have been harassed, but they’re not being attacked and they’re not being criticized.”

Hmmm, Phyllis … I haven’t heard about the Muslim baker who refused the cake order, or the Hindu florist who said No, perhaps because most people run their businesses for the public, not just the public with whom they agree.

You and Barronelle should have lunch and then go away.

[photo source]

Random Musings

Carlos and I love Jeopardy. He says I should be on the show, not that I’m so smart, but that I have a way of figuring out the question to the answer because, many times, they give you a clue to the question in the answer. But I digress … we were watching one day last week and the answer was something along the lines of:

Ants use these to both see and feel.

I mumbled, What are antennae?

Carlos said aloud, What are antlers?

Now, I know he meant antennae, but I literally fell outta my chair laughing at the idea of ants with antlers. And I was still laughing days later when I relayed the story to my Dad, who then asked to speak to his son-in-law about it.

And then my Dad relayed a story about my Mom that I never knew. He said that many moons ago, while driving through Texas, my mother spotted something in the road and said, Ooh, an armadillo!

My father took a look at it and said, That’s actually a piece of a tire.

And from then on whenever they spotted a piece of a tire in the road, my Dad would call it an armadillo.

I guess that’s where I get it from.

Texas Republican Representative Louie Gohmert is mulling a presidential run for 2016.

Just when you thought the biggest idiot running for the GOP was Ted Cruz, the clown car stops and someone opens the hatchback and Louie Gohmert pops out!

Barronelle? As I said on Facebook, I’m’a have to ask you to sit down, for a long while.

As you may recall Barronelle Stutzman is that Washington state florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding and was subsequently charged with discrimination by the state.

Well, she was fined the massive sum of $1,000 last week, plus $1 for court costs and fees, and she has 60 days to pay the state for her refusal to serve Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed when they sought to buy wedding flowers in 2013.

But now she says she’s going broke because of all this, when she’s probably just losing business because she’s a bigot and most folks don’t wanna do business with her.

Lesson learned: Discrimination doesn’t pay the bills on a florist shop.

[photo source]

This week NBC announced that their next big televised musical event will be The Wiz.

I say, Good luck, and don’t f**k it up. 

Seriously, don’t carrie-underwood The Wiz.

We’ve had our issues with Target in the past, most notably when they funded some anti-gay political candidates in Minnesota, but Target, now that they know better, is trying to do better, and have stepped up in light of these “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts {RFRAs] popping up around the nation with a new message:

“In recent days, we’ve heard from you, our guests. You’ve asked us for Target’s thoughts about what it means to have an inclusive culture. You’ve asked us if, given the current conversations taking place across our country, we were taking a stand. And while most of those have been one-on-one conversations as you have called or emailed us, we wanted to take time to share our thoughts more broadly. They are simple. Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you’ll always be accepted, respected and welcomed here.”

Good on Target for evolving.

So, Faye Dunaway was Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest; every self-respecting gay oughta know that. But Faye hated the way the movie turned out, and loathed that it has become a camp classic despite a really great performance as Crawford. And in the years since then Dunaway almost always refuses to talk about the film, which many believe ruined her career. I mean, she went from Bonnie and Clyde to Chinatown to Network — for which she won an Oscar — to Mommie Dearest and then almost to oblivion.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that Dunaway is finally ready to address the career-changing film in a book.

Publisher’s Lunch, a publishing industry newsletter, mentioned an upcoming memoir in a recent email:

“Academy Award winning actress Faye Dunaway’s recollections, stories and behind the scenes account of the making of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, Mommie Dearest, to Julia Cheiffetz at Dey Street Books, by Alan Nevins at Renaissance (World).”

To paraphrase Dunaway as Crawford: Christina!!! Bring.Me.My.Kindle!

[photo source]

So  a couple of weeks back I tuned in to a new comedy starring Nick Zano as a man who donates sperm to his Lesbian BFF so they can raise a child together and then, as the Lesbian reveals she’s knocked up, he reveals he’s just gotten married.

So, it’s straight guy and his wife, with his gay bestie raising a child. The show is called one Big Happy, but after watching for roughly five minutes, I dubbed it One Big Not Funny. And, while I won’t watch again, I was intrigued by Nick Zano, who has a younger Brad Pitt thing goin’ on.

He’s hot, but not hot enough to make me sit through thirty minutes of crap every week … though I think the show has already been cancelled.

[photo source]

An Open Letter To Barronelle Stutzman

Dear Barronelle Stutzman,

Can you just stop, please? Stop making yourself sound like a victim when you were the one doing the discriminating?

We all know that you knew this gay couple; that you sold them flowers for every event — Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries — for years, but the minute they decided to get legally married, and use your business — your public business — for their wedding flowers, suddenly it was “all about The Gays.”

Here’s the deal, Barronelle: discrimination is illegal in Washington; you cannot discriminate against anyone on the basis of their race, age, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

But.You.Did. You decided that all of the sudden the Baby Jeebus didn’t want you to serve this gay couple because, ick, they were getting married. It was okay to sell them flowers any other day of the year, but not on their wedding day. That was discriminatory, and it’s wrong, and rude and stupid and illegal.

So, the state sued you, and the Washington state attorney general offered to settle the discrimination case if you paid a fine of $2,000 fine and stopped discriminating against same-sex couples; same-sex couples who, by the way, would probably never come to you at all given your history so, take that hit to your business, dear.

But you rejected the settlement and now you’re the Poster Victim for all the anti-LGBT groups out there; and you’re speaking at their events and letting them push forward their lies that the state of Washington and/or that same-sex couple you discriminated against are trying to take your business, your home, and all of your money.

That’s a lie. Stop it. Stop letting people spread that lie. And stop trying to appeal the ruling because you’re going to lose there as well. That became quite clear after Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom rejected your argument that your actions in discriminating against that same-sex couple were protected by freedoms of speech and religion.

Not so, dear. The First Amendment protects religious beliefs but it doesn’t necessarily protect the actions one takes on those beliefs — like in denying services for which your publicly run business was created.

So, you’ll lose, and when you do, you, as the loser, may be forced to pay damages and legal fees for both that same-sex couple and the state of Washington that far exceed the attorney general’s offer of $2,000; two thousand dollars and a payment of $1 for legal fees if you would just agree not to discriminate against same-sex couples any longer.

But you’d rather discriminate and hate and couch it in your narrow view of the Bible.

What would Jesus say about that?