All across the country, “Christians” are cashing in on their bigotry. Literally.
Last week, the owners of Memories Pizza, a “Christian establishment” in Indiana, raised a whopping $840,000 in taxed donations from their fellow hate mongers after vowing to discriminate against gay people. (We wrote owners Kevin and Crystal O’Connor an open letter calling on them to do the good, Christian thing and donate the funds to a pro-LGBT charity. Not surprisingly, they never responded.)
A Christian florist in Georgia then tried following suit, but wasn’t quite as successful in her get-rich-quick scheme. (Whomp, whomp.)
Now, Barronelle Stutzman, a florist in Washington state, has raised over $100,000 after being ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, plus $1 in court fees, for violating Washington’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws when she refused to sell two grooms a bouquet of flowers for their wedding back in 2013.
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Last week, Stutzman said she feared the $1,001.00 penalty would cause her to lose both her house and her business. But then a miracle happened. Tom Savage, a friend of Stutzman, created a GoFundMe campaign to “protect Barronelle against the financial risk she faces.”
“I am doing this campaign with her knowledge and cooperation,” Savage said. “The highest priority is to protect Barronelle and her livelihood.”
And the money came rolling in. First $1,000. Then $10,000. Then $50,000. And now, over $100,000.
In addition to donations, Stutzaman’s GoFundMe page is being flooded with comments from donors.
“May God uphold you with His righteous right hand!” Brian Hughes, who donated $20, wrote.
“I hope this means more liberal heads explode,” Janet Warnsdorfer, who gave $10 said, “it might be the only way to rid ourselves of them!”
“No one deserves to be bullied for their religious convictions — ever!” Alice Galeotti, who donated $50, wrote.
In less than one day, Stutzman made more than triple the amount needed to pay her penalty. Which begs the question: Why is she continuing to fundraise for herself? And why has she set a new goal of $200,000? But, perhaps most importantly, what would Jesus do?
Related stories:
Homophobic Florist Fears Homelessness After Being Slapped With $1,001 Fine
Five Disgraced Business Owners Who Learned That Homophobia Just Doesn’t Sell
Six Reasons Why Indiana’s Antigay Law Is Even Worse Than You Imagined
Londale Foster
Cash in on that Hate Bitches!!! Praise God, Glory be to the, In the name of Jesus…lololol
Jonathan Isaac Valentine
There’s probably a better cause these people could be donating to.
Mark Hunziker
Pathetic.
Darryl Moir
Dumb fucking Americans, this is why the world hates you all and will kill you all.
Robert Becker
Just like televsngelists have done forever… inflame and frighten people about gays… then incourage them to open their wallets.
Danny Micabane Aguaviva
I hope the govt will taxed that old bitch?!
Still so many people are so fucking dumb and makes me sick!
Daniel Leyva
I really don’t care. The important thing is that she was fined.
Blake Baines
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=931749220209698&set=p.931749220209698&type=1
David Evseeff
Whatever, these morons are just bitter because they’re losing every single legal battle when it comes to gay rights, and the tide of public opinion has overtaken their bigoted positions and neutered what political power they once had. Bigoted “Christian” fundamentalists are well on their way to the trash heap of history.
Creig Stearne
Disgusting, this bigot get money from other stupid bigots while people go hungry, animals are homeless. Just shows how stupid people are. Wonder how much she would have received if she refused to serve a black couple!
John P Farinhas
Hate pays
Darryl Moir
And if you live in that town burn the fucking flower shop down and take a stand against hate.
Michael Tselentis
Good for you
Ron King
Religious hate values pay off big…Yeezus must b so proud.
Alex Goodman
It’s decided. I am going to open up a florist/bakery, deny gay people items and then when Christians start donating there hard earned money to me.. i will donate it all to gay causes.
Stephen Meeks
Bigotry is now a money maker
Jeff Eiselman
Hate pays. SMH
NE Estes
Yes we should all feel so bad for her and the pizza people! Yes great people sending money to help them but won’t send a dime to feed children! Yep great Christian!
Uppity
This is money which might well have otherwise been donated to the GOP. So maybe that’s the silver lining, that they didn’t get their hands on it.
Billy Budd
Being a bigoted bitch is profitable in the USA. Shame, shame on you guys.
Merv
Excellent. This should come in handy when the ACLU is awarded attorney’s fees for their work on the winning side of the case.
James Benjamin
Bigotry pays.
SpunkyBunks
I think these scam GoFundMe’s are great. “Christians” ripping off other “Christians”. All of this nonsense to be a member of a cult that worships imaginary deities.
darian
I hope more of these religious bigots pop up until they have all bankrupted each other.
Donnie Bailey
Yeah, I get physically ill every time I read one of these stories about hate paying off. May whatever God they are worshipping forgive them and those who donated to the hate.
They’re definitely, are not worshipping the same God as the rest of us good people who know right from wrong.
Josh in OR
The thing that gets me about this and similar cases is that she isn’t being fined or punished by gay people. SHE BROKE THE LAW. The fine is her punishment for BREAKING THE LAW. Whatever happened to “Render unto Caesar what is Caesars”? What ever happened to ‘Law-abiding Christians’? This woman broke the law by discriminating against a gay couple. They reported her to the authorities, and she got a fine for her law-breaking, bigoted behavior. This is not persecution, this is simply expecting Christians to follow the fucking law.
And they WONDER why people are getting less and less tolerant of their bullshit…
Gus Anderson
Just because there is a fundme site for her doesn’t mean she will ever see a penny. Any scammer can open a fundme site and then do whatever the hell they want to do with the money.
Caoimhin Mikael Lycke
Donations to her are nothing but “blood money”…the links and bonds of evil are temporary.
John Wayne Bennett III
Hitler was well funded and had lots of loyal followers too. Jussayin…..
mikeincleveland
Yeah- this is never going to work out the way you wish it could. Social conservatives will rally around their wounded just as the LGBT tend to do (we hope). A few Gallup polls don’t hide the reality that there are plenty of people out there (in Blue States too) that do not like how much gay lives are considered “normal” now, and are absolutely convinced that Modern Family can make being gay seem so cool and average that their kids will choose to be gay instead of chasing someone of the opposite sex.
Sadly, most likely how this is really going to end up, is that businesses will be given “religious outs” to not have to provide a service to someone that is gay because of their religious beliefs. Why? Because LGBT businesses are going to say they shouldn’t have to serve someone they’re a bigoted anti-gay jerk. We can’t have it just one way.
Ultimately, LGBT people will win the day just because that’s how it’s going in the long-run.
In the meantime, we’re in this grand transitioning period.
There were plenty and plenty of businesses in the South after the Civil Rights bill was passed in 1965 that quietly held out and continued to practice discrimination over the next few decades.
That’s what we’re dealing with here. Buckle up.
sarasnotlost
You talk about hate how christians hate but your comments are just as hateful as what is being done to you. We are supposed to accept you and be OK with your sexual activities but we should put what we believe aside. Why would you want a wedding cake or flowers from a business that you know doesnt want any part of it? Your wedding or your lifestyle? Your talented, open up your own businesses than you can ask us to leave.
Bobby Singh
http://www.gofundme.com/bobbyearlylight fund me ! forget her lol
polarisfashion
I wonder how much of this money she will keep to herself rather than give to a real charity that actually helps people? These fake Christians just make sick how they cherry pick their Bible verses and don’t care anything about poor people. Aparantly those teachings of Jesus as well as his message of peace and love fell on deaf ears!
Garold Bulmerr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141628301913?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Giancarlo85
I believe there is a mass conspiracy going on where only a few donors are making big donations to these “poor little persecuted christians” (who do all the persecuting themselves). Funny how these bigots get all this money… I believe the overwhelming majority of the money is flowing in from a few sources (such as several rich Christian conservatives).
Giancarlo85
@sarasnotlost: Who asked you to post here? Nobody is asking you to do anything. Just don’t pass laws or legislation that will harm other citizens of this country. I don’t care if you are okay with “someones sexual activities”. And personally someones sexual life is none of your fucking business. And gay couples are asking for generic wedding cakes and bouquets of flowers. If you provide a gay couple with a cake you’re not condoning anything. You’re just conducting your damn business.
And learn the facts. Sexual orientation is NOT a lifestyle.
All of these right wing trolls. Go back to the sites you came from.
If you don’t want to serve the public don’t get into business in the first place.
Matthew Wallisch
Hate runs deep. God help these people.
sarasnotlost
Nobody asked me to post here, its my right. Isn’t that what you are always saying. And yes dealing with you in any capacity is not anything I want to do. Nice language BTW know you couldn’t respond without lashing obscenities with you Nasty mouth. This will go on forever you will never change the way this is looked at. So easy, awwh its not my fault, dont you like being this way? Whatever.
Giancarlo85
@sarasnotlost: You have no right to post here. Posting here is a PRIVILEGE. There are NO constitutional rights on an internet site. You can be banned for whatever reason. You are a bigot. We all understand that. Being gay is not a lifestyle. Learn the difference. It’s not my fault you’re so clueless.
Giancarlo85
@sarasnotlost: “This will go on forever you will never change the way this is looked at.”
By the way, judging by the political victories for the LGBTQQI community, you’re the one that is losing.
polarisfashion
@Giancarlo85: This is why we have to keep fighting. We may have marriage equality nationwide. The conservatives will not stop and neither can we! High five my friend!
David Briskie
The new bigot scam !
misterhollywood
Is there a progressive florist in the area that is offering to work with LGBT folks? If so, we should help to promote them. Of all the things in the world to give money to – this is what the Christian Right chooses? Ridiculous!
Michael Forman
And what charity will she be donating all of that money to? The GOP?
Ridpathos
There is a huge rising backlash of conservatives. They’re just now realizing that they’re losing and they’re doing anything they can to bite back. It’s evidenced by the number of conservative friends on Facebook now all of a sudden posting anti-gay comments, photos, and videos. We need to fight back now with reason and law to make them realize that discriminating against ANYONE is against the law for a business operating in the public sector.
Giancarlo85
@Ridpathos: They are sharply declining in number… and an increasing number disagree. They get more nasty and vocal when they are minimized as a political group.
Giancarlo85
@Giancarlo85: *Disagree with them.
Roan
The headline is incorrect. This type of crowdfudning, where many individuals give another individual a small sum of money as a gift, with nothing in exchange, is generally untaxed. The entire amount is a tax free windfall for the old bat, just like the 800k the bigot pizza place made.
Roan
@sarasnotlost:
Dear sarasnotlost or whoever you are:
American Business Ethics 101:
1) American
2) Public, secular business owner
3) Christian (or religion of your choice)
IN THAT ORDER. All public businesses in America are open to ALL people. Period.
Flaneur
Barronelle Stutzman has been convicted of breaking the law. Fact. I’m guessing that Washington State (like many states) has a law barring convicted criminals from profiting from their illegal acts. These “donations” have been made specifically because of Barronelle’s conviction, and as such, an argument could be made that these monies are an illegal profiting from that conviction.
At the very least, the attorney general of Washington should file suit to prevent these monies from being transferred to Barronelle absent a judicial finding to the contrary. I used to have a modicum of pity for this woman because of her age, but now I say scorch the earth. As Hannah Arendt reminds us, evil is banal . . .
Chip
This greedy page keeps upping the goal to collect more and more. So christian like.
@sarasnotlost: Hows the shrmp, ham, and porkchops? Wearing any polyester or eye glasses? Ever worked on a Sunday? Funny how you can cherry pick what one of “GODS LAWS” you wanna follow. Christians do not need gays to destroy their religion. They do it themselves with their hate and Hypocrisy.
Cee
I love hearing these stories. Kinda like the guy who raised all that money on kickstarter for the potato salad lol People are so dumb and they prove it every day.
Bill Cheek
Fools and their money…………just saying
Chris Michaels
My religion doesn’t allow me to serve or care about old conservative, religious white women who by some tragedy end up lying in the street bleeding to death.
Frank Smekar
Is this the new Christian business model? At some point they are going to figure out they are being taken for schisters.
Victor Barry
She can add con artist to her resume.
Matthew Munson
Then will the courts seize the 1001 bucks from those donations?
Tom Lozza
Douche bag ð??·
Ai-Quoc N. Heller
Goodnight
Transiteer
Proclaim your Hate, and let the truly Stupid & Ignorant send you money! It’s worked for that old fossil Pat Robertson for years. The Truly Dumb have kept him living like a Byzantine Emperor for many many years, while they sit in their trailer and spit hate at the world. Pathetic. And poorer.
Linda Ruth Sharp
Looks like this is becoming a racket.
gaym50ish
@Flaneur: Violating the anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws that Stutzman was charged under is not a criminal offense. In fact, I don’t believe they carry criminal penalties anywhere in the U.S. They can fine you, but they can’t put you in jail.
Pyper Hall
Neville Jones
gaym50ish
Look on the bright side. Maybe instead of using the money to appeal her case, as she and the Alliance Defending Freedom have vowed to do, she’ll take the money, close the shop and retire.
Danny Severino
They need to change the law in regards to donations , people are just doing what they want and using a fake fantasy(God,Jesus) to base their opinions on
mmichael_24
If they want to donate to her fine by me. The only reason she’s getting all this money is because of the exposure that we are giving her.
Ian Sebastian Puente
I guess she won’t need to worry about being homeless now.
Giancarlo85
@mmichael_24: We are giving her? More like media outlets like Fox news.
Realitycheck
@mmichael_24:
That exposure is needed to stop other religious zealots from
repeating the same crime.
The donations are just a stunt and as you can tell, this is already much lower then the first campaign, they will not be able to keep this up much longer.
Leonard Woodrow
True Christian charity should be directed at the most deprived. In this case it is giving undeserved support to somebody who has demonstrated their hate towards a harmless minority group. Jesus must be ashamed of the way they are staining his name.
Kevin White
Seems like a scam….
Loyd Hawkins
To think of how much money these phony Christians are giving to homophobic florists and pizza parlors, how many children would that have fed and clothed? How much good could have been done with that money? Rewarding bigotry isn’t going to get you into heaven…..
corey
@Leonard Woodrow: “True” Christianity?
Rape In The Bible:
http://www.evilbible.com/Rape.htm
Rape is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Yet few people know that the Bible often condones and even approves of rape. How anyone can get their moral guidance from a book that allows rape escapes me. Perhaps they have been lied to about the Bible and carefully detoured around all the nasty stuff in the Bible.
So grab your Bibles and follow along as I show you all the nasty rapes that your priests and preachers don’t want to tell you about. Note that in many places in the Bible there are references to “taking a wife”. Don’t be fooled into thinking that these were voluntary marriages. This first quote clearly shows that murder and force were used to “take” these wives.
1) Murder, rape, and pillage at Jabesh-gilead (Judges 21:10-24 NLT)
2) Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
3) More Murder Rape and Pillage (Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
4) Laws of Rape (Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)
5) Death to the Rape Victim (Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB)
6) David’s Punishment – Polygamy, Rape, Baby Killing, and God’s “Forgiveness” (2 Samuel 12:11-14 NAB)
7) Rape of Female Captives (Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)
8) Rape and the Spoils of War (Judges 5:30 NAB)
9) Sex Slaves (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
10) God Assists Rape and Plunder (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)
corey
@Leonard Woodrow:
The God of the bible kills 371,186 people directly and orders another 1,862,265 people murdered.
The God of the Bible makes Osama Bin Laden look like a Boy Scout.
This God, is directly responsible for many mass-murders, rapes, pillage, plunder, slavery, child abuse and killing, not to mention the killing of unborn children.
Examples:
– Orders the killing of innocent people even after the Ten Commandments said “Thou shall not kill”.
– Kills 70,000 innocent people because David ordered a census of the people (1 Chronicles 21).
– Orders the destruction of 60 cities so that the Israelites can live there.
– Orders the killing of all the men, women, and children of each city, and the looting of all of value (Deuteronomy 3).
– Orders another attack and the killing of “all the living creatures of the city: men and women, young, and old, as well as oxen sheep, and asses” (Joshua 6).
– Orders the murder of all the people of Jabesh-gilead, except for the virgin girls who were taken to be forcibly raped and married. (Judges 21). When they wanted more virgins, God told them to hide alongside the road and when they saw a girl they liked, kidnap her and forcibly rape her and make her your wife.
– Orders the murder of all the worshipers of a different god in their very own church (2 Kings 10:18-27).
– Supports slavery, including selling your own daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:1-11).
– Supports Child abuse (Judges 11:29-40 and Isaiah 13:16).
– Orders Bashing babies against rocks (Hosea 13:16 & Psalms 137:9).
– Orders ritual human sacrifice and animal sacrifice.
o.codone
@sarasnotlost: Giancarlo is a flaming nutjob and all he does is harass and spit hatred at others. He is from a third world shit*hole country in South America which he brags about (so why did’t he stay there)? He has been banned by Queerty once before, which is why he just reminded you that you can be banned “for any reason”. He never lets go, he will hound the sh*it out of you and call you names until the thread dies. (Watch what he does to me now, once he sees this response). I flag him all the time, I suggest you do the same. I am trying to get him banned again, but I know he will just come back under another name and email address. Sigh.
Bettye Anna Louick
SMH
o.codone
@Darryl Moir: You actually are advocating to burn this woman’s shop down? How’s that for hatred? You’re kidding, right? Seriously, they need to throw your criminal ass off of Queerty for this comment.
Diane Morales
She gets this kind of money donated? How sad.
IcarusD
I suspect she will claim that the additional funds will be used to help other “persecuted Christians.” But dollars to doughnuts, she’s going to pocket the money, probably sharing half with her co-grifter, Tom Savage. It will come out when she gets audited next year for failing to pay taxes on it.
IcarusD
@Danny Severino: I could be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure these donations are taxed at 40%. I know that individuals are allowed to give tax-free gifts of about $15,000. But I think when the cumulative gifts from multiple people go above a certain amount, they are then taxed. (Maybe a tax attorney or accountant can corroborate?)
Roger Donato
Shows how stupid people are
Dan Steele
Increase her fine to $110k due to donations.
Kyle O'Flaherty
I don’t swear often, but this is fucking disgusting. This woman is no true christian, she is a greedy conservative hate monger cashing in on other stupid Christians foolish generosity. The power of the internet. Where is the campaign to help the two grooms pay for their wedding which I’m sure cost them a fortune if they had to travel hundreds of miles to find a florist, baker, planner, caterer, photographer etc at way extra cost????
IcarusD
@sarasnotlost: It really isn’t about a stupid cake.
The right wing is using cake bakers and florists as a wedge to overturn all LGBT protections. They know that most Americans don’t think that gay people should be fired, or turned away from a hotel, or refused service in a restaurant, or refused service from a private ambulance company. But they’re hoping that when it comes to weddings, public sentiment will be on their side.
It would be extraordinarily challenging for a judge to craft a ruling that somehow exempts cake makers from these laws without providing an exemption for everyone.
And honestly, it isn’t even about LGBT issues. It’s about a libertarian element of the right wing that doesn’t want ANY business restrictions whatsoever. If everyone can opt out of anti-discrimination laws because of their religious beliefs, where does it end? They courts cannot decide whether someone claiming an exemption is sincere about their religious beliefs — and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act laws explicitly state that the individuals don’t have to be correct in their beliefs (that is, no one else has to share the same belief and it doesn’t have to be supported by any religious texts).
So the right wing hopes one of these cake makers prevails in court because that essentially means that everyone can opt out of any laws they dislike. And that’s their real agenda. It has nothing to do with a stupid cake.
Jaden Birns
Omg this gives me a business idea!! Proclaim being a homophobic seller and make a gofundme page!!
Giancarlo85
Oxyconrin lying again? What a surprise. I have never been banned. Now he is making xenophobic slurs. He is just mad I rejected him.
Rob J Mabe
What’s sad is that she’s being supported as though she’s being martyred. Jesus said being all else love one another. How is that love being expressed here?
Joshua Dery
Go ahead. Raise all the money you want. Every penny is getting taxed, which 1) pays my salary, but more importantly 2) funds a democratic presidency which will continue to defend the rights of the LGBT community! Not only does it get taxed when the fundee gets paid, it gets taxed when the fund-er got paid, when they donated it, and again when the fundee tries to spend it, so…yeah…Donate away so we can tax it all back!
Also: the people who are saying that they won’t do this stuff or that stuff or whatever need to understand the difference between a religious organization, a private religious belief, a licensed business, and the legal status of a licensed business. And quickly. Or not. Keep the money flowing…to the government.
Louie Mars
How does this keep happening!?….Can I please get some gofundme donates for my Hilo Gay Bar?…
Lynne Brown
Which goes to show you homohating creeps support their own
Gregory McDaniel
Someone is paying for this bigotry. Let the pay and pay.
Daniel Sullivan
Who cares…….she is a loser in life thats what matters…….
Kevin J Desmond
People love supporting bigots … gutta love them Christians
Scott Stevenson
I’m being persecuted by Christians for being myself. Where’s my windfall?
William R Gordon Jr
Give your money to people who REALLY need it like orphans or abused….. Instead you give it to a bigot . What is wrong with the Christians these days….. Bring back the lions!!!!!
Giancarlo85
Y@o.codone: You know what is hilarious? You were trying to hook up with me and say you like Latinos. You are a liar. You said Colombians are hot and well endowed. Now you insult my background? Yeah thanks liar.
Giancarlo85
@o.codone: Never been banned once on here. You are the one that needs to get banned. I am not into xenophobic fat white guys.
Saint Law
@o.codone: You need to take up a hobby that won’t leave you so upset, deary. Much more of that you’ll give yourself another stroke.
Saint Law
I never realised the ‘fund’ in GoFundMe’ was short for fundamentalist.
Captain Obvious
@Giancarlo85: @Saint Law: Cool sock puppets. Why not stick to one name instead of logging on so many different accounts just to agree with yourself all the time?
onthemark
The headline makes a point of saying these are “taxed” donations. But the article itself doesn’t even mention the tax angle.
Did we ever get a definitive answer about how (or if) GoFundMe donations are taxed?
Giancarlo85
@Captain Obvious: I am not anyone’s sock puppet. And i have one account, captain douchebag. But then again is oxycontin your other account?
Jar3d
It’s nice that Christians help one another out, just as gays do. She’s very lucky.
Richard Molinar
It’s so sickening how these so called Christians support hate. They’re the antithesis of Christ.
Timothy Herbert
some filthy bigots right there.
1EqualityUSA
Jar3d, Bigots of a feather flock together.
gamer
“No one deserves to be bullied”.. (right on!).. “for their religious convictions — ever!” .. oh, it’s conditional :/