LGBT News Why LGBTQ People Take Homophobic Businesses to Court

What a wicked person... She'll reap what she sows.

 

not all cases are the same.
did he go in there originally knowing that this was going to be the outcome? no.
Did she originally turn him down because he was gay? no.
are we hearing the whole story? I doubt it, but she still should not have acted in that manner. I dont think she belongs in a business that deals with the public at all.

 

How I wish these businesses had a sign that said "This is owned By a bigot. Use caution". Of course this man should sue with every other person. I much as I agree with some aspects of religious freedom she damaged his personal property plain and simple and should be sued

 

Calling businesses out like this and getting word spread via media is almost as good as a sign. This is why I'm glad stories like this make the news.

 

Bigots are cowards who won't own what they are, so that's never going to happen.

 

i was being sarcastic

 

I see it as karma. Let people know the values of the company so that can determine if they still want to spend their money there. Besides, it makes for some great entertainment to see how cowardly people get when they're exposed for it.

 

I don't see how anyone could think suing a business for discrimination (especially as blatant as that) is frivolous litigation, but hey, maybe I'm just radical like that. I personally think that these businesses should be sued & shamed not only on principle, but so their name is out there for it. I like knowing where I'm spending my money & I like knowing that if I see someone doing business there afterward (knowing what they're about), I probably shouldn't associate with them.

 

Even if they hung a sign saying that they did not approve of homosexuals, someone would come along and claim to be offended and take them to court over that.
People are always going to hate gays for whatever reason. the uniformed Christians will use the bible, the honest will claim its because its icky, the not as honest non christian, or not honest informed christian will claim it is going to destroy humanity as we know it.
These people will never go away.

We cant force them to change, and to be honest, to those running around yelling that we are trying to shove it down their throats, they see these lawsuits and it only pours fuel on their flames.
Other than a few instances, there is no reason for any establishment to know Im Bi or gay or straight, all they need to know is if I have the money in my pocket to pay for their services.

 

I agree. I question though how would at a dry cleaning place would this woman know of his homosexuality. I mean yeah there are stereotypes and obvious clues but why would his sexuality be of topic when it at a dry cleaning place. I don't mean any rudeness I respect those who are honest with themselves but me being the private person I am I wouldn't be out and proud at a dry cleaning place of all places. There is a lot of unanswered questions to this and could this woman just been plain rude instead of being outright homophobic. There are gay people and straight people who both use "fag" as a insult to anyone so I refuse to jump to any conclusion. I know may organizations for gay rights and stuff post pro gay businesses and there needs to be more of that in every community and every state. When you do business with the gays you succeed!

But despite if she is exactly anti gay or not she damaged his property and has a right to sue to her like any other person.

 

how she knows is a question. either we dont have the entire story, or she made an assumption based on certain speech patterns or the way he carried himself etc..
if the second of the two, then, although ignorant and nasty, Im not sure it goes to the point of actually being homophobic as much as trying to piss someone off.
either way, again, the bitch needs to find a new line of work that does not involve the public in any way.

 

Agreed it is a dry cleaning business of all places. If you cannot handle customers and treat respectfully you need to find a new line of work.

 

I say fuel their flames, and let then burn up in lawsuits! Ha!

Their numbers are in decline, especially as the old die off; they will be too small a minority to fuss over their so-called feeling of being oh-so-oppressed.

In time, they will be nothing more than a lunatic fringe which can be managed with proper criminal and civil law enforcement.

 

seriously, what if she were to get a blue dress to clean?

 

Exactly. And the more they play the offended victim card the more sadder they will get.

 

Every time I hear the 'oh, we (LGBT people) shouldn't do this, that, or the other thing because it will offend the straights', I am forced to wonder how my being gay apparently requires me to act like a doormat.

Quite frankly, I don't give a crap about whether or not my existence offends people, nor will I change my behavior for their infinitely insignificant and worthless beliefs and prejudices. Nor will I waste any time on trying to please such people.

Todd

 

I wont either, but at the same time, I dont expect that others are going to go out of their way to make me feel comfortable.

 

For me personally it feels like taking people like these to court is stupid, to me it seems like a "You don't want business? Then I won't give you mine. Jerk."

But I do understand why people take them to court, discrimination is against the law and we should make it very clear.

 

Except that these people aren't going out of their way to make anyone feel 'comfortable'. Quite the opposite in fact.

They are running a business whose presumed purpose is to provide a service to paying customers. They are therefore going out of their way to not provide that service to paying customers solely on the basis of supposed 'deeply held religious beliefs'.

What exactly qualifies as a 'deeply held religious belief' (and does that therefore allow for 'shallowly held religious beliefs) and how exactly do we quantify or measure that?

If someone cites deeply held religious belief for refusing to sell goods or services to an LGBT person, but spends the rest of their time breaking various of the 10 commandments or violating various other strictures of the bible (or whatever holy book they claim to hold to) or otherwise living in a very 'irreligious' fashion does that void their claim? If not, why not? Why does an issue of sex or sexuality or gender qualify as a basis for 'deeply held religious belief', but an issue of wearing two different kinds of fabric, or eating shellfish, or working on the Sabbath does not?

At various times people have cited biblical passages/religious belief as a reason for treating human beings as property, denial of voting rights, and denial of services (not to mention harassment to varying degrees) due to their gender or race. If it's acceptable to deny services to LGBT based on 'deeply held religious belief' is it also ok to engage in slavery, or deny women or people of color the vote, or employ segregation as long as 'deeply held religious belief' is cited as the reason? If not, why not?

Beyond that, I've noticed a fair bit of talk along the lines of 'it's just wedding cakes, who cares? It's no big deal.' Ok, then - at what point does it become a 'big deal'?

If a cab driver refuses to pick up a woman in the pouring rain because she's wearing a business suit and his 'deeply held religious beliefs' say that women shouldn't work, is that acceptable? If a store clerk (or owner) claims to have 'deeply held religious beliefs' that say a woman shouldn't use birth control/own property/go out unaccompanied by a male relative/drive and refuses to provide goods or services to a woman, is that acceptable? If someone cites 'deeply held religious beliefs' for being against inter-racial marriage and refuses to provide services (such as a hotel accommodation during a blizzard) to an inter-racial couple, is that acceptable? If a doctor or other medical professional refuses to treat an LGBT person due to 'deeply held religious belief' and they die, is that acceptable? What about a non-white person? Is that acceptable?

Eventually, same-sex couples are going to age and die. If one spouse passes away before the other and is buried somewhere and then the cemetery owner refuses to allow the other person to be buried next to their spouse by citing 'deeply held religious belief' is that acceptable?

Where exactly does the line get drawn here?

And the point, over and above issues of wedding cakes, is that once the precedent is set where does it stop? How many people get to be treated as second-class citizens (or worse) due to 'deeply held religious belief' (a state that is non-quantified nor defined and may not be either quantifiable nor definable). How many people decide they can get away with discrimination if they just mouth the right 'deeply held religious belief' words?

Todd