When St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, an LGBTQ-friendly congregation in Fargo, contacted Custom Graphics, Inc. about creating a custom logo for them, they weren’t expecting the response they received.
“Everyone was on board,” Adam Johnston, a member of the church, tells the Bismark Tribune. “They were really excited about it. And then within a week, we get an email saying, ‘Nope, we’re done. We’re not doing it.'”
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The church had requested the logo be in rainbow colors, which Custom Graphics’ general manager Zach Paxton found inappropriate.
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“The business was declined respectfully,” he explains. “I didn’t mean any offense by it or anything like that.”
Paxton told the church he refused to design a logo that promoted what he described as “the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement,” adding that he had “no problem” printing signs, decals or banners for the church, but “trying to come up with a logo and help them come up with ways to promote their agenda” was where he drew the line.
Ironically, however, Custom Graphics’ own logo is in big, bright, gay rainbow colors:
State Rep. Joshua Boschee, the state’s first openly gay lawmaker, says this case is yet another example of why North Dakota needs a law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“We don’t allow businesses to say that they’re not going to design a graphic for someone who is Muslim or someone who is disabled or someone that’s a single parent,” he said, adding that discrimination is “not a North Dakota value.”
Last session, Boschee sponsored a bill outlawing discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations such as businesses based on sexual orientation. Unfortunately, the bill was defeated. He is now encouraging St. Mark’s Lutheran Church to file an official complaint with the state Department of Labor and Human Rights.
No word yet on how the church plans to proceed.
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Stache
Well, I hope people are yelping the hell out of them then.
Dakotahgeo
This is SO North Dakota-ish! The only catastrophe that moved Grand Forks from 1850 to 2000 was the great flood of 1997 when 90% of the city was underwater for weeks! They literally evolved 147+ years in that time. Had to rebuild the entire downtown. As for social mores and attitudes? Still 1850! It’s like having Alabama or Mississippi up north on a constant basis! So sad!
GG
Based upon the design company’s own logo, I think this was a blessing in disguise.
Lookyloo
Hey, Bigots!
All you have to do is say “it ends up we over booked and can’t do your project.. sorry” or some other benign yet unprovable excuse to drop out.
But they just can’t do that, can they? Just bow out in a modest, non-specific way? They just can’t do it.
Their arrogance is flaunted so often in these cases. And I always heard arrogance is some form of big-time sin in the big religions.
SteveDenver
I find it befuddling that BUSINESSES refuse BUSINESS based on superstition and mythology. Good thing the church found out, they can take ALL of their business somewhere else.
JamJewel
Who are they trying to bullshit here? The average normal person seeing a logo in rainbow colors is likely to think the business is gay friendly – unless it is a company related to signage or painting… oops… this is a print shop… and a lot of THEM also uses rainbow colors! Still… very shitty behavior.