Ben Allen and Justin Hudgins are getting married, and planning a lovely wedding;
the flowers, decorations, food. All was going well until Allen called one venue—the
All Occasion Party Place near Fort Worth—and got the Gay Smackdown when he said
he was marrying a man.
“She immediately responded with, ‘Well, no, I don’t do that,’ and that was just the end of that. It felt like somebody had just hit me in the face.”--Ben Allen
Allen and Hudgins were
told both by phone and via e-mail that the All Occasion Party Place won’t serve
gays.
“It is because of God that I will not be a part in your reception, and I know he loves you, but not what you are doing. I simply said I can not rent to you which is also my right.”—Robin Hearne, an All Occasion Party Place employee, via e-mail
I can totally get it; you don’t believe in same-sex
marriage. Then don’t run any kind of business that might cater to same-sex couples
wanting to get married. If the All Occasion Party Place had said they don’t
rent to Jews, we’d all be pissed off; if they didn’t rent to Blacks, there
would be outrage. But some folks think that if they toss around their religious
beliefs they can get away with discrimination. And they can’t. Well, except that it’s a venue in Texas,
where, unlike race or religion, state laws don’t consider sexual orientation a
protected class.
The Gays may not be considered a protected class at the state
level, but cities and towns, even in Texas, have been passing their own
discrimination laws to protect The Gays from places like the All Occasion Party
Place—which should change their name to the Some Occasions, But Not The Gay
Occasion, Party Place.
Fort Worth has been one of those cities in Texas that have
expanded their laws to not only forbid discrimination based on sexual
orientation, but also the more loosely-defined terms of gender identity and
gender expression; the law applies to many groups of people and protects them
from discrimination whether they are an employee or a customer. Sadly, though,
the All Occasion Party Place sits just outside Fort Worth’s city limits, so they
can be hateful and bigoted and homophobic and, well wrong.
“There’s nothing illegal about it,” said Peter Schulte, a
Dallas attorney who has handled gay rights cases, but is not working on this
one. “If a restaurant puts out a sign that says, ‘We’re not going to accept
gays and lesbians,’ then they can do that.”
And I think they should. Please, please, please, all you
bigots and homophobes and Bible thumping wingnuts who run businesses, please
post signs saying No Queers Allowed, or Fags Stay Out. I want people to know
you discriminate; and I want people who find discrimination of any kind to find
your business, like the All Occasion Party Place, to be a disgusting business
and not worthy of patronage from anyone. You don’t want The Gays, or,
apparently, in this economy, the Gay’s Money? Good; then be prepared to have other
folks decide they don’t want to give their Straight Dollars either.
In the end, the All Occasion Party Place has trampled on what could have been a happy
occasion for a couple, and have denied yourself income because you found a
passage or two in the Bible that says it’s okay to act like complete asshats to
other people.
“We’re just people. We’re not a gay couple... we’re a couple that loves each other.”--Justin Hudgins
And that should be worth having a party.
