Christian radio host and American Family Association mouthpiece Bryan Fischer is weighing in on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s judgement in the case of Homophobic Baker v. Gay Couple, likening the enforcement of anti-discrimination statutes to “slavery.”
Last Friday, the Commission found that Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, CO, was in direct violation of Colorado’s anti-discrimination law when he refused to service a gay couple who visited his shop in 2012. Though it was later revealed that he was open to servicing dog weddings, Phillips would not bake cakes for gay weddings because he “would not provide cakes for pedophiles.”
This week, in response to the case, Fischer proclaimed “The gay gestapo brings back slavery” in a rousing column for Renew America.
He rambles:
Slavery, by definition, is involuntary servitude. It is being forced to provide labor or produce a product against one’s own will.
When a man is forced, under threat of being sent to jail, to do work that he would not do unless he was compelled to do it, he is no longer a free man but a slave.
We fought a brutal civil war over this very issue, and took a pledge as a nation that we would never tolerate slavery again.
He then claims that baking a cake in Colorado would be a violation of federal law:
Not only is gay marriage a mockery of God, it is still flatly illegal in Colorado. So Phillips is being threatened with jail time for refusing to participate in something that is forbidden by Colorado law. (The couple got “married” in Massachusetts, and wanted to celebrate it in Colorado.)
It would be as if a farmer could be ordered by the Nebraska agriculture department to grow marijuana, in violation of state law, just because it is legal in the state of Colorado.
He also coins a few new fun phrases for us to own. We were getting tired of “the gay mafia” anyway:
Not only is Phillips being reduced to slavery, he is now the victim of tyranny as well since he is being compelled by the government to violate his own conscience.
So meet our new overlords, the new owners of the American plantation, the gay mafia. All hail Big Gay, our new slave masters.
It is time for all American citizens of conscience and principle to stand athwart history and yell “Stop!” at the top of our lungs. The Gay Gestapo must be stopped in its tracks, immediately and decisively, before all freedom, whether of the religious or civil kind, vanishes from America.
Nowuvedoneit
Religion is slavery for the mind and soul.
Cam
Then logically forcing OTHERS to obey Christian doctrine would ALSO be slavery.
Funny how that part doesn’t seem to bother him.
Nowuvedoneit
Like all blind followers they can’t see past their beliefs because they don’t have beliefs without their religion telling thsm what to think, what’s bad, who is bad, and I some cases what underwear to wear!
Stefano
Same old, same old. Next !!!
Nowuvedoneit
@Nowuvedoneit: *them and*in
WuzUpYall
Isn’t slavery promoted in the Bible?
sweetbrandigirl2004
He sounds really pissed ! I wonder how long it is until these hate mongers start promoting violence in retaliation for the rights he feels the LGBT community has stolen from them. I’m sure at some point they will find a bible precedent to support armed retaliation against our community.
BrianZ
Shit! When did the Overlord position get posted? I don’t remember seeing it on the Mafia recruitment site or I certainly would have applied. I hope I can still get a room at the plantation for July 4th though … God how I love those big columns!
BrianZ
@sweetbrandigirl2004: They wouldn’t have to look far: Ever heard of the Crusades? 😉
gskorich
i don’t get why people want to frequent straight bakers who don’t want gay money? there has to be plenty of gay bakers out there. i get the whole discrimination thing but is this really a battle you want to fight, its a cake. who knows what the freaks would put in your cake.
Evji108
Personally, I would not be interested in eating their hate-filled cake. Not even a bite. Let them choke on their own toxic Christian credo, it is pure poison.
toberlin
Absurd man…
With respect to ALL the people who sufferd and died under the Nazi Regime and in respect to all the people who survived I NEVER OWN ! any “Nazi”-Words.
hyhybt
If cakes really were illegal there, Colorado would definitely win the crazy crown away from Florida.
RSun
@gskorich: While that is true this entire situation could have been avoided. The bakery could have simply said that they couldn’t fill the order because they were too busy, but NO…they had to make their point about not wanting to serve gay customers.
They are intentionally being d!cks and I hope they get what’s coming to them.
AxelDC
No, forcing people to work without compensation is slavery. Forcing you to respect the civil rights of others is just civilization.
corvaspikenard
I just want to see the ‘Gay Gestapo’ uniform. I bet it’s awesome.
Chris Vogel
Religious conservatives are not unfamiliar with slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest US protestant denomination, was created by those Baptist congregations that wanted to sustain slavery. (Have they ever officially changed their minds?) Religious conservatives were in the forefront, well armed with pro-slavery Bible texts, in advocating for slavery in the nineteenth century. As for a “gay mafia”, of course it doesn’t exist. There is the real Mafia, of course (you remember them: prostitution, drugs, racketeering, gambling, murder and general mayhem), but they are all devout Roman Catholics.
Larry
These idiots said the same thing about black people 50 years ago. Well some still say it, but they will get used to all people one day. Maybe when they all meet in hell.
NiceNCool1
Then forcing anyone to follow ANY law is slavery, and if they can put up with all the rest of the laws that they follow then they can put up with that one.
mcflyer54
And the best part is that before long there will be “religious” folks in every single state having to treat people equality or face legal action. So Bryan keep stirring that pot – your fellow bible beaters are FINALLY going to have to follow the same laws as the rest of us. KARMA, ain’t it wonderful?
purplechicken
@Nowuvedoneit: No, it’s not.
Mezaien
Remember the ” SEND THEM ALL BACK TO AFRICA”. Send them all back to Europe, white asses Christians mother .S.R.E.K.C.U.F! so sweet to hate whites (my right).
GymJockTX
Fischer is a seriously twisted, hateful sombitch–i.e., a poster child for RepugnantCon Evangelical Dumbf**ks.
Alaska_Dude
Nobody of consequence listens to or puts any stock in what this bigot has to say anyway, so why give him ink?
toberlin
I am GERMAN…and Brian Fischer is an absurd man!(no excuse!)
Throbert McGee
Hey, parakeets!
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that Maggie Gallagher of NOM approached your gay-owned cake-decorating business and said she wanted to order a big custom three-tier cake depicting the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in glorious 3-D technicolor all done with fondant and royal icing and a little marzipan version of Lot’s wife, and a big “SAVE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE” inscription on the side.
And suppose you politely told Ms. Gallagher that your gay-owned establishment did not want her business — and then she turned around and successfully sued you for religious-based discrimination.
Wouldn’t you feel just slightly “enslaved”? I would.
Wouldn’t you kinda resent the fact that the state you support with your taxes is compelling you to act against your conscience by doing business with homophobes like Maggie Gallagher? I would.
Wouldn’t you tend to suspect that Maggie Gallagher had very deliberately acted like an a$$#ole-provocateur by intentionally approaching your gay-owned business, even though there are plenty of born-again-Christian cake-decorators who would’ve been very happy to take the commission? OF COURSE I’D SUSPECT HER.
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, folks — and “oh, but it’s okay when WE act like jerks, because WE’VE been oppressed” is a slogan for losers.
What is hateful to you, do not do unto your neighbor — that is the whole of the Torah, the rest is commentary, go thou and study.
GymJockTX
@Throbert McGee: Love the sermon. But it doesn’t change the fact that Robert Fischer and his borderline insane zealot sheeple are ignorant hateful redneck dumbfucks who seem convinced that Jesus was a hateful ignorant redneck SOB like them–which I’m pretty sure He Wasn’t. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Ring a bell, Bobby?
corvaspikenard
@Throbert McGee: Poor example. You’re conflating personal beliefs derived from a 2000yr old book with the human rights of people who happen to be born a certain way.
If your religion forbade you from serving black people, would that be ok? I severely doubt that would ever wash.
Stefano
There is a lot of trolls around here who think they can manipulate us with their sophism. Their intention is simple : make us feel bad about ourselves (culpability, shame, fear, etc).
Cam
@Throbert McGee: said…
“Suppose, for the sake of argument, that Maggie Gallagher of NOM approached your gay-owned cake-decorating business and said she wanted to order a big custom three-tier cake depicting the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in glorious 3-D technicolor all done with fondant and royal icing and a little marzipan version of Lot’s wife, and a big “SAVE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE” inscription on the side.”
_________________________
This is a false comparison. They are refusing to provide a service that they advertise for, for events that they advertise for.
If a bakery advertised that they make Sodom and Gammorah anti-gay marriage cakes and then refused to make one for a black couple that came in, now THAT would be a similar situation.
But nice try. It always amazes me the lengths that some will go to try try to defend right wing bigots even after all of the arguments have been shot down repeatedly.
RSun
@Throbert McGee: I’d make the cake.
Stefano
@Cam: …”It always amazes me the lengths that some will go to try try to defend right wing bigots even after all of the arguments have been shot down repeatedly.” Me too. These people are so convinced of their intellectual superiority they try to fool us with misleading arguments. BTW someone who begins his comments with “hey, parakeets” just show how arrogant he is and how he consider us. I prefer to ignore him.
GymJockTX
@Cam:
Well put, Cam. Thank you on behalf of me and all of my similarly tuned-in Texans who are sick and disgusted with the Evangelical Dumbf**cks who are spreading hatred, bigotry, judgment and damnation against those of us who are members of the different drummer’s tribe–all in the name of Jesus (what a crock).
These dimwitted hatemongers have no right whatsoever to even pretend they have anything in common with Jesus and His true teachings. Christians, right–in a pig’s eye! Latter Day Pharisees, the lot of them–I wish we could ship them all to the Dark Side of the Moon. I’d pitch in a handsome chunk of change for some of the rocket fuel to get them there. Let them have an endless bitch fight amongst themselves–I’m sure they’d find fault with each other rather quickly.
Throbert McGee
@RSun:
That’s your right, if you wish, though I think you’d be kind of a sucker for doing so — why would you want to spend hours and hours making a cake for people who oppose you, in order to help them send a message that’s abhorrent to you?
Certainly, if I owned a bakery, I wouldn’t object to selling NOM a few dozen cupcakes or mini-eclairs, because those are fairly simple to make.
But a custom-made cake is, in my view, a form of ARTWORK ON COMMISSION. (Ever worked with marzipan or fondant? It’s a pain in the ass, and takes vastly more practice and long-developed talent than injecting crème into an éclair with a nozzle.)
Artists — even those who have businesses catering to the public — should have the right to decline special commissions for customized work. And this right belongs equally to LGBT artists and to fundie Christian artists. By protecting the right of Brian Fischer and Maggie Gallagher to not do business with US, we are simultaneously protecting our own right to not do business with Fischer and Gallagher if we’d rather not.
Throbert McGee
I admit this can get potentially complicated if you’re talking about “art” that requires very minimal time and effort from the “artist.”
Arguably, if an LGBT customer brings in a high-res, printer-ready graphic of two rainbow-colored gay unicorns getting married, and the owner of the T-shirt-printing shop happens to be a Christian who virulently opposes gay marriage, perhaps the shop owner should NOT be allowed to turn the customers away — because practically all the work will be done by machines, requiring very little of the owner’s time, attention creativity. (The creative work has already been done by the artist who produced the unicorn graphic.)
But if the gay customers say “we need you to design some sort of graphic involving rainbows and unicorns who look kind of cute and cartoon-y — but not TOO anime — and the unicorns should be dancing up the stairs on a huge wedding cake,” the business owner should be within his rights to say, “sorry, but I don’t support same-sex marriage and so I’d rather not invest my time creating a custom design of that description.”
Throbert McGee
P.S. I think that non-secular gays (Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, or whatever) ought to be especially wary of getting secular law tangled up with INTERNAL theological debates about whether homosexuality is a sin or not.
So I would respectfully suggest to GymJockTX (who, I gather, is a gay Christian) that he needs to be mindful about keeping Caesar and God separate.
GymJockTX, as a gay Christian, you can (and, in my opinion, should) support the legal/political right of a self-described “Christian cake-maker” to turn away gay customers under certain conditions — and at the same time you can (and definitely should!) denounce their anti-gay theology as false and un-Christian.
This isn’t “right wing” or even radically libertarian; it’s very basic “classical liberalism.”
Mezaien
@toberlin: Ich auch ein deutsche.
RSun
@Throbert McGee:
For me, it’s simple. I am a secularist and abide by the laws of where I live. Everything else is moot.