Homophobia. Turns out it’s just not good for business. Simply ask Aaron and Melissa Klein (pictured), the disgraced Oregon bakers who refused to make two lesbians a wedding cake, calling them an “abomination unto the Lord” and, as a result of all the bad PR they received, were forced to close up shop. They’re now peddling “ex-gay” cakes out of their home to make ends meet.
Earlier this week, Pat Robertson warned 700 Club viewers that gay people were a threat to Christian’s livelihoods, saying: “What the gays are saying is, ‘We’re going to drive you out of town. You conform to us or you must leave.’ It’s the same message that was put out in Sodom and Gomorroh: ‘You’re either going to have sex with angels or have open sex with anybody or else you leave, or you go out of business.’ ”
For once, Robertson may actually be right about something. Publicly proclaiming one’s hatred and intolerance of gay people can do serious damage to one’s business and reputation.
Check out these five professionals who learned that lesson the hard way.
Hazelmary and Peter Bull
The Christian husband-wife duo made international headlines when they denied two husbands a room at their B&B in Cornwall, England, citing a strict “heterosexual married couples only” policy. The couple sued the B&B owners for discrimination and won. As a result, occupancy at the hotel plummeted and the Bulls were forced to sell their business.
“In 2013, two people who worked all their lives at this have ended up cold and hungry,” Hazelmary told the U.K.’s Daily Mail last September. “It’s not right. This is like a death in the family. I never thought it would end like this. We are not facing the future with any real enthusiasm.”
David Stockton
The Indianapolis baker and owner of Just Cookies told a group of college students that he would not sell them rainbow-colored cupcakes in honor of October’s National Coming Out Day in 2010. At the time, he told reporters, “We’re a family-run busines. We have two young, impressionable daughters and we thought maybe it was best not to do that.”
The story got the attention of Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard, who called Stockton’s stunt “unacceptable” and ordered an investigation into the matter. After nearly losing his lease as a result of his behavior, which was deemed illegal under a 2005 city ordinance protecting LGBT people against discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations, Stockton agreed to sign a paper acknowledging the city’s equal opportunity ordinance and post a copy of it on display in his store.
Barronelle Stutzman
In March 2013, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington was slapped with not one but two lawsuits after she told a gay couple she could not provide flower arrangements for their wedding because it would tarnish her “relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The state attorney general sued Stutzman for violating the Consumer Protection Act, which states that it is unlawful to discriminate against customers on the basis of sexual orientation. A second lawsuit from the couple Stutzman refused service to was also threatened, though they told her they would drop it if she “[vowed] to never again discriminate in her services for gay people, write an apology letter to be published in the Tri-City Herald, and contribute $5,000 to a local LGBT youth center.”
The trial is currently stalled but is expected to begin some time in the next two to three months.
Gregg Steinhafel and Target
The bargain retail giant, under the direction of then CEO Gregg Steinhafel, came under scrutiny in 2010 for donating $150,000 in cash and services to MN Forward, a super PAC that was backing antigay gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.
Steinhafel initially defended the donation, but after the story ignited a firestorm in the national press, he apologized to Target employees, saying: “While I firmly believe that a business climate conducive to growth is critical to our future, I realize our decision affected many of you in a way I did not anticipate, and for that I am genuinely sorry.”
Target’s gay customers left in droves, with many vowing to drop the retailer for good. For the most part, Steinhafel was able to weather the storm. But as we all know, karma always comes back around eventually. In May of this year, he was forced to resign from his position as CEO after several years of slumping sales and the great data breach of 2013 that affected roughly 100 million Target consumers.
Lefty
What they’ve learned is that being honest about not wanting gay people at their businesses doesn’t do them any favors.
Any such people running a B&B, for instance, will now just keep their views under wraps and probably piss in our food or something, while our money will go to such people unbeknownst to ourselves.
Whereas before, the Christian fruitcake Bulls wouldn’t have allowed me and my annoyingly middle-class husband to stay at their place, I wouldn’t have given them any of my money and everything would have been perfectly clear and agreeable to all concerned.
Progress, yah?
jabuka
@Lefty: But how do you propose to solve the problem legally? What they do is clearly against the law. You can’t have one set of laws for normal people and other for the bigots.
One solution would be to legally force them to declare their bigotry for their own good, by making them put up signs where they declare anti-gay, anti-black bias, so that people avoid their businesses, wihout putting them in actual legal trouble.
enfilmigult
Okay, is there any reason you guys haven’t been reporting on Uganda? The Anti-Homosexuality Act just got struck down, for goodness’ sake.
Dakotahgeo
Ssssssssssssuper news! Uganda AND the USA recalcitrant conservies getting their business butts kicked… HARD!
Cam
@Lefty:
Gee, what a shock, the screename that has been attacking people on here who advocate for, you know, sensible things, now is on here defending people who have lost business because of bigotry.
As for these business owners, what they did was no different than if a restaurant owner was filmed peeing in the soup they serve. Customers didn’t want to patronize so they left.
What Lefty seems to be advocating is that if somebody is an anti-gay bigot, we should continue to patronize their business because we it’s so wonderful that they are HONEST about it.
Lefty
@jabuka: But how do you propose to solve the problem legally?
We may have to tweak the law a bit and I know it’s not “politically correct” but I think anyone who wants to start a business should have to take a lie-detector test, and if they reveal homophobic tendencies they should be shot in the face at point blank range.
MCHG
I find the prospect of having my food prepared by someone who despises me horrifying. I also divvy think it’s a great idea to get the government involved when it congress to the services private business provide. Must the the free market radical in me. I’m fully on favor of people boycotting whatever business they deem offensive, even though I have my doubts when it comes to how effective they are, but forcing the government to bake someone a cake sounds incredibly petty and gives the right legitimate reason to whine.
Desert Boy
Religious types are always bigots. Always.
cformusic
am i trader for still shopping at Target? please don’t tell anybody, but I love their grocery section..
Cam
@MCHG:
I LOVE all these people coming in and twiting themselves up trying to find a reason as to how the Right Wing are the victims here.
Their businesses are in the public domain, using the infrastructure paid for with the public tax dollars, and the public is shunning them.
It in no way gives the right a reason to whine. These people are perfectly welcome to conduct private business in which case they can exclude whomever they want. What YOU seem to want is for people to go “Oh Gee, they are bigots, but we need to tolerate them and patronize THEIR business rather than all the businesses that AREN’T owned by bigots.”
Fools.
Lefty
@MCHG: I find the prospect of having my food prepared by someone who despises me horrifying.
Absolutely. I’d much rather know who the homophobes are, so I can avoid them.
It’s a two-way street, isn’t it? They don’t want to serve me and I don’t want to give them my money.
In the good old days when pompous self-righteous hysterical morons (naming no names!) weren’t ruining everything with their thick-wittery we all knew where we stood…
masc4masc
Like it or not, @Lefty makes a good point. If life was an after school special, all these reprimands would change the hearts and minds of homophobes everywhere (awwww). In reality, they’re probably just making these people even more adamant about their anti-gay ideas. This is part of why I loathe political correctness. It just forces people to better mask their true feelings, which is arguably way more dangerous. So now instead of enforcing a “heterosexual married couples only” policy, the B&B couple might just spit your bacon and eggs and fart all over your fruit. Yum yum!
@cformusic: I shop at Target too. The gay community isn’t going to dictate where I can shop or what I can eat. The security breach is what turned me off a bit. Though I’ve generally started to just withdraw cash before shopping. You just never know these days.
man5996853
@Lefty: These hard-core right-wingers are obnoxious in their hatred of gays. They won’t keep their mouths shut despite all logic pointing to doing so. They will trumpet the Lord’s message from on high. These victories won’t do a thing to deter them.
erasure25
@Lefty: Well given that we can’t technologically or physiologically perform mind melds or personality reprograming, I’m not sure what you are saying. Its evident that when a government tolerates certain actions, it legitimizes it in the eyes of the people (see Russia). If a govt does not tolerate anti-gay bigotry, it makes people think twice about their actions. Who cares what people think… So long as they don’t act on those hateful thoughts…
1EqualityUSA
Pat Robertson said, regarding bakers refusing to bake cakes for us, ‘You’re either going to have sex with angels or have open sex with anybody or else you leave, or you go out of business.’ ”
Pat Robertson is incontinent out of both ends of his tattered, tired, unmerciful body.
2Timothy:24-25 And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome–fighting and contending. Instead he must be kindly to every one and mild-tempered–preserving the bond of peace, he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and forbearing and willing to suffer wrong. He must correct his opponents with courtesy and gentleness, in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and come to know the Truth–that is, that they will perceive and recognize and become accurately acquainted with and acknowledge it…
Matthew 15:11 It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him].
17 Do you not see and understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the abdomen, and so passes on into the place where discharges are deposited? 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him], 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputes and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander and irreverent speech.
Luke 6:32 If you [merely] love those who love you, what quality of credit and thanks is that to you? For even the [very] sinners love their lovers–those who love them.
MCHG
@Cam: if I wasn’t clear enough before, I’ll say it again. You have the right to shun, boycott, loathe whatever company you want. However, crying to the government because someone didn’t make you a specific kind of cake is rather petty. You don’t have to patronize anyone. I’m not offering any sort of legislation or plan here, just a viewpoint.
Stache99
@MCHG: Personally I have no issue with that. However, they need to let the public know of their bigotry like a surgeons generals warning about smoking. Not just a Yelp review either because Christians are known to be big liars.
GreatGatsby2011
@MCHG: “I also divvy (don’t?) think it’s a great idea to get the government involved when it congress (comes?) to the services private business provide.”
While cakes and flowers may seem petty, nondiscrimination policies are very important. In my town the Pacific Gas & Electric Company is the only company in town that offers energy services to residences and businesses. If the company were to enact anti-gay policies and refuse to provide energy to gay households, my only recourse would be my state’s nondiscrimination policies. Boycotting in this situation would not be feasible as they are the only game in town.
Similarly, if a white person owned the only gas station within 50 miles and refused to sell gas to (insert non-white ethnicity here), a boycott would not be feasible as they, again, are the only game in town.
So I guess my statement would boil down to this:
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Nondiscrimination policies exist for a reason and when a person opens a business in the public domain, they are agreeing to abide by these policies. Whether it be giant energy corporation or a tiny mom and pop general store. Boycotting is a great tool in fighting oppression, but let’s not completely throw out other important tools just because these tools can be used even in situations one might deem “petty”.
The Bease
Okay . . . these places think it’s okay to refuse service to homosexuals because it goes their religious beliefs and / or God. However, they have no problem serving adulterers, divorcees, heteros with multiple partners / marriages, “bastard” children, unmarried mothers (or fathers) . . . all of which go against God. One thing the God does not like is hypocrites!
randalaw
The Bull’s faces are darker than an English winter sky. Would it hurt them to smile a bit? As a Christian man who is also gay, I find myself somewhat resentful of the fact that they are referred to as Christians. The true Christians I know are basically happy people. Though I don’t know their hearts, Mr. & Mrs. Bull seem not to be the best representatives for Christianity, based solely on the very superficial measure of outward appearances. So sad for them. I hope that they someday will be able to find the true joy that genuine faith (as opposed to just religion) can bring.
The Bease
We would be having another discussion entirely if it were any other segment of society other than homosexuals. We all know it, yet are afraid to admit it.
Cam
@MCHG: said…
“@Cam: if I wasn’t clear enough before, I’ll say it again. You have the right to shun, boycott, loathe whatever company you want. However, crying to the government because someone didn’t make you a specific kind of cake is rather petty.”
_______________________
No, actually it was complaining because the company was not abiding by anti-discrimination laws. I always find it interesting when people come in here pretending not to be anti-gay but then continually try to minimize any actions by anti-gay bigots.
They were violating the same types of laws that were put in place to protect blacks, women, Jews etc… but I guess since it was gays who were discriminated against that is meaningless to you.
And again, if you think that the anti-discrimination laws are “Petty” then you have every right to try to vote in people who support discrimination. But trying to attack somebody for reporting a violation of those laws??? Nice try.
The Bease
. . . and we know what happens if we start electing those who support and enact discrimination legislation. Sooner or later *you* will be a victim of the same discrimination. Then will you will understand what we’re talking about.
AxelDC
Replace the word “gay” with “Jewish” and see how many people would think it was okay to frequent businesses that refuse service to Jews. That is how the world was just 50 years ago, and we think of those people as horrible bigots.
If you think it is horrible to refuse Jews but okay to refuse gays, then you are just a modern version of the anti semitic bigots that supported Hitler.
Sammy Schlipshit
@enfilmigult:
The law was suspended because of a technicality not the evilness of it.
The judge said the government didn’t have a quorum when they voted.
You can bet that law will be back and stronger than ever.
shelleybear
I still believe that the market should have taken care of some these folks rather then fines or draconian measures.
In several cases it did.
Sammy Schlipshit
Oh right, because the market did such a great job allowing blacks access to businesses.
Sorry, shellybear, that just doesn’t work.
As another commentator said, just substitute any other minority/oppressed folks name for the gay label to see just how wrong it is.
Public facilities and businesses should never be allowed to pick and choose whose money they want.
Cam
The market did take care of it.
Remember, these businesses didn’t shut down because of the govt. The govt. merely told them that they couldn’t legally discriminate. It was the market that killed them because customers stayed away.
Bellamy
Being both gay and a conservative Christian minister, I think both sides are being outrageously unfair to one another. Just as it is utterly absurd to say that the majority of gays are all bed hopping nelly queens, it is utterly absurd to say that the majority of Christians are antigay. THEY ARE NOT!!! Just because you get a few nuts claiming to be Christian in the press does not mean they represent the Christian faith. I don’t even know a single Christian who watches Pat Robertson any more. The very fact that these people are being so disrespectful to gays and lesbians is PROOF that THEY ARE NOT CHRISTIAN IN THE FIRST PLACE. Jesus strictly forbade that type of behavior and ordered His followers to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and “live peaceably with all men”. Anyone who does not do this demonstrates themselves to be false Christians. But to my gay brothers and sisters, I caution you not to become exactly what you accuse them of being. And remember that our nation was pumped with the belief – not just from religion but from heterosexist machoism – that homosexuality is evil. We cannot possibly expect such an intense point of view to change over night. Most activist gays live in highly populated areas, forgetting that the rest of the nation is NOT like our liberal big cities. Everyone needs to calm down and remember that even if we disagree with each other, we all HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HERE, and we all better learn to get along. You do your part and be responsible for your own behavior, and let others be responsible for their part.
-Rev. Jim Cunningham
GayChristianSurvivors.com
Billy Budd
I once went together with a male FRIEND (not BF) to a B&B in London, and the owners, a couple of ladies, assumed we were boyfriends. Although they did not throw us out, they looked at us in disgust, as if we were subhuman beings. They were very cold and formal while we were there.
Cam
@Bellamy:
Lost in your post was the fact that this at it’s core is a simple case of businesses breaking the law by discriminating. What excuse did they give for their discrimination….their Christian beliefs. It is not the Gay communities job to search out the goodness here, it is the Christian communities job to figure this out.
Women are discriminated against in Saudi Arabia by the law of the land instituted by Wahaabist clerics, are all muslims sexist towards women? No, but what you are doing is blaming women who get mad at the persecution they deal with at the hands of religion.
Same here.
Billy Budd
I say No Mercy for bigots.
Billy Budd
People have to learn it the hard way. Remember when black people fought for their rights? They won, didn’t they?
.
There HAS to be some confrontation.
ChuckGG
Hey, it’s a free market. They decide to discriminate and the market (even setting the legal aspect aside for a moment) will decide the outcome. All the Tea Party bible-thumpers are forever yammering on about the “free market.” Well, there you go, they got what they asked for.
There’s another old biblical saying: You reap what you sow.
I don’t shed a tear for this gang.
BECQueerty
Oh man! I didn’t know about Target! Fuuuccckkk. I just went there this evening. But, it is hard to boycott a place when you know there’s a lot of LGBT workers. Shoot. Walmart? Target? Kmart…? Where am I going to buy my cheap “made in China” crap now? I’ll start a new trashy store called: “We’re Cheap!” It’ll exploit third world kids and be pro-gay. Love it.
DarkZephyr
@Billy Budd: I’m actually on board with you about this.
shadrak5
Four years after the fact and I’m still boycotting Target. It took me 15 years to go back to JC Penny after they pulled their sponsorship of Ellen, the sitcom when she came out. No, I don’t forget or forgive bigotry easily and a company or business will have to do some big time, long time penance before I’ll return. So there!
jd2222248
I love it when the people come together and fight.
northwest
Nope. I don’t feel a bit sorry that some homophobic bigots livelihoods have been destroyed. Serves them right.
Maude
@Lefty:
FIRST…..WHY DOESN’T QUEERTY PUT THE ‘LOG IN’ BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE?
@shadrak5:
Your own bigotry is showing, but that’s not always a bad thing.
Boycotting the consumer giants is one thing, and should be encouraged, but a Mom&Pop BB is another.
Causing a loss in business to the giants is a great deal different than forcing an elderly couple out of business entirely.
Go after the young ones, if you must….they can see the ‘error of their ways’, and recover, but you may be putting the elderly (who are stuck in their ways, and actually do believe in their religion that prohibits homosexuality) in their early graves.
How many of us have parents and grandparents who are anti-gay, and just too old to reject their religion that tells them they will spend eternity in hell?
Most of us, I think, would draw the line when it comes to our own grandparents.
You want compassion? How about showing some to those who cannot defend themselves at this stage in their lives, unless, in their minds, they turn away from God.
We don’t give them much choice, do we?!
Maude
@Billy Budd:
Billy,
It’s been reported many times that the NAACP, in fact, most black people resent comparing our Gay Struggle with the Black Civil Rights Movement. Just Sayin’.
The Bease
@Maude:
They are misinformed Billy Budd. They are under the assumption that being homosexual is a choice. There are born black, but we chose to be Gay is their belief. I blame the churches they belong to.
Maude
@Billy Budd:
I fully understand.
Quite a few years ago, I was visiting my parents and sister and her husband in Florida.
One day, I asked “Who wants to go with me to Disney World”, the only one interested was my very, very straight brother-in=law.
We got in his Mustang, and he drove the 100 miles or so to Disney World.
We spent the entire day there, and on the way back, at about 9PM, my brother-in-law said he was too tired to continue, and since I didn’t have a license, we checked into a Holiday Inn that happened to have a western themed nightclub with a very loud band and ‘line dancing’.
We had a drink, and then decided to check in. I asked the male desk clerk to ‘give us a room way in the back, away from the noise.’.
With an unmistakable wink, he gave me the room card, and said: “Sure thing. Waaaaay in the back where you won’t be disturbed.”
Point is, he was sure we were gay, and probably just met in the bar.
To this day, my brother-in-law says the desk clerk was just being nice, and I absolutely agree with him.
My brother in law hasn’t got a clue where gays are concerned. He carries no hate in his heart, just a whole lot of: “I don’t understand you guys”.
Maude
@Cam:
Cam, There you go again. You see anti gays everywhere simply because some don’t agree with your opinions, in your eyes, the have to be anti gay.
You at least APPEAR to be one of those single issue voters who are not satisfied being right, they must prove everyone else wrong….and disguising themselves as gay, when they are really straight.
You must be a riot during dinner conversation.
Maude
@The Bease:
I don’t totally agree. I believe there are some who chose to be gay. Why not? It tastes good, and it’s a lot of fun. “Try it, you’ll like it” comes to mind, and why not?!
It’s also a whole lot easier to get laid. None of that ‘pussy footing'(pun intended)around all the time. None of that ‘time of the month’ to deal with either.
IMO, there are no negatives to being gay. Except the uninformed straights.
The Bease
(cough cough) There are no negatives to being gay? Are you serious? Gays have been harassed, discriminated against, denied rights simply because they are gay. Replace the word gay with woman and you might understand what I’m talking about.
You are either born gay or not. Period. You are born with blue eyes or not. Right-handed or not. You cannot choose to change your eye color. I couldn’t choose to be straight if my life depended on it. My homosexuality is innate. It’s who I am. Don’t misunderstand, I can see a woman and notice she’s attractive, nice figure, bosom, what have you. But I feel nothing like when I see a man I find attractive, nice body, pecs, what have you.
I assume you are straight. To prove your point, why don’t you choose to be a gay for a week. Let me know the result.
DickieJohnson
@Bellamy: Amen, Reverend! Why can’t all Christian Pastors announce this same thing from their pulpits on Sundays, instead of hateful misinterpretations of Scripture? That dumbfounds me.
Cam
@Maude: said…
“It’s been reported many times that the NAACP, in fact, most black people resent comparing our Gay Struggle with the Black Civil Rights Movement. Just Sayin’.”
___________________________-
You can always tell the anti-gay trolls coming in here with their own agenda’s a few ways.
1. They never put up links to back up their vague statements, or they will link to a non-serious source.
2. They ALWAYS have a reason why gays should NOT stay away from anti-gay busilnesses
3. They are still following the NOM playbook of trying to follow the directive exposed in the leaked NOM documents of going onto gay sites and trying to drive a wedge between gays and the minorities communities.
Oh, and lastly they lie. Unlike them, the rest of us can put up links.
Here is a link that shows the NAACP passed a resolution in support of gay rights and gay marriage.
http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/naacp-passes-resolution-in-support-of-marriage-equality
Here is a link to a story showing Martin Luthor King Jr.’s wife comparing the black civil rights struggle to the gay rights struggle. She had been an outspoken gay rights supporter for decades
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-g-long/coretta-scott-king_b_2592049.html
Here is a link showing Mildred Loving, civil rights hero and one of the plaintiffs in the Loving v. Virginia case that legalized interracial marriage in the U.S. speaking for gay marriage and comparing that struggle directly to her case.
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2007/06/15/mildred-lovings-statement/
Again Maude, your agenda is obvious. Your responses just make you look ridiculous.
Bauhaus
@Cam thrashes the trolls again!
enlightenone
@Bellamy: And what “behaviors” were these potential customers responsible for? “Liberal” cities? Being of the same-sexual orientation persuasion is the same no matter what patch of dirt or cement they live on. Lastly, how many nights must we wait for your fellows “Christians” learn how to behave as adults?
enlightenone
@Cam: Thanks for your concrete efforts!
enlightenone
@Maude: Choose to indulge in “HOMOSEXUAL” SEX. “GAY” is a “sociopoliticalcultural” identity (= empowerment!).
enlightenone
@Maude: Actually, he would be responsible for the intellectual stimulation that is often missing at the “dinner table.” I can only imagine the talk at your dinner table!
1EqualityUSA
enlightenone, bottom-feeders don’t use dinner tables, they just slip around in the murky, fetid, realm of their twisted minds and come up for attention every few days.
mezzacanadese
The article proves that homophobia is world-wide. I am not an awfully vengeful person, but I am glad when people who discriminate are punished for it. Usually these people have never had any close contact with a gay person, and know nothing about them. They are ignorant.
queenrosered
I’m sorry but I’m still trying to wrap my mind around any self-respecting gay male shopping at Target…lol.
Also, props to you, @Cam, for calling out the bullshit re: the black civil rights movements in relation to the current gay rights fights!
JohnG
If people who really feel in their beliefs that it is against their religion to provide services to gay people is it wrong for them to say they honestly can’t provide the services but provide alternative means? For example, the florist may say I can’t provide services because it is against my religion, but here is a florist who can and here is their contact information and I will call for you. I think that is the better and reasonable way of handling this situation. I don’t think it is right to impose my beliefs on them and vice versa. Is this wrong thinking and if so why?
enlightenone
@JohnG: ” Is this wrong thinking and if so why?”
Yes, BEING homosexual isn’t a belief! THINKING homosexuals aren’t cut out to be sexually monogamous is a belief.
“God” exist and the Bible is the “word” of a spirit/”ghost” is a belief! Man made up “Gods” and “God” is a FACT!!!!
captainburrito
@Lefty: Did you ask every vendor beforehand if you were welcome? In at least some of the cases the gay customer was a long time client.
BigG
Hell hath no fury like a gay person discriminated against.