Victoria Cobb Says It's Not Hate But ...

Last week in Bobservations I posted about the Metzger Bar and Butchery in Richmond, Virginia canceling a reservation made by the Family Foundation of Virginia because restaurant employees and the owner didn’t feel comfortable serving a group that is opposed to equal rights for all.

Well, on Saturday CNN host Michael Smerconish had the president of the group, Victoria Cobb, on his show where she whined and complained that she and her colleagues were refused service at Metzger’s and in the same breath defended the rights of Christian businesspeople who refuse to work with same-sex couples.

On the show, Smerconish tried to get Cobb to see that her group being denied service because it conflicted with the beliefs of the restaurant owner was the exact same thing as a Christian baker refusing to make a cake, or a web-site designer refusing to create a site,  for a same-sex couple which she feels is completely justified:

“I know you follow the arguments as I did this past Monday in the Supreme Court on the same issue. It’s incredible the timing of all of this. Justice Sotomayor said, ‘Hey, if we allow the web designer to not have to design that web for the same-sex couple, for the first time in our history we’re going to be saying it’s okay to discriminate based on gender identity, based on race, based on religion.' You know it’s a slippery slope argument. Would you similarly say a web designer doesn’t have to make a cake (sic) for an inter-racial marriage because they don’t agree with that from their religious point of view?”

Cobb wasn’t seeing it because hate in ignorance clouded her vision, and she said:

“I think we are stretching the Lorie Smith case to be something that it is not. [Smith] has a fundamental concern about same-sex marriage. It’s not the people, it’s I don’t want to write a speech. I have to literally write content and create beautiful imagery on something that violates my faith –that’s her case. We haven’t seen a ruling yet, it sounds favorable from what folks are saying. It is because we protect speech it is a bedrock principle. It is so important that no one, not even a paying customer compels someone else to have to say or write words they don’t agree with. I think that’s the America we want to live in.”

Smerconish shot back:

“I want to live in a world where everybody gets served. I want to live in a world where judgments aren’t made based on religious conviction. You respectfully didn’t answer me. I think the web designer could say, ‘Oh, my god, it’s an interracial marriage, I’m not designing a website.’ The baker could say ‘I’m not going to bake a cake for them.’ I want everybody to get served.”

Funny, cuz from reading this it looks like Victoria Cobb got served.

And, in closing, I will say again: if you are a business owner and you don’t want to bake a cake, create an invitation, design floral arrangements, photograph the wedding, cater the event for a same-sex couple then you should put a sign in your window and an icon on your website that reads:

“We refuse to serve same-sex couples.”

That way, we know who you are, and everyone knows who you are, and people who maybe aren’t gay might think twice about patronizing your business.

But you’ll hide your hate because, deep down, even you know it’s wrong.