No Gays Allowed: Relig Hypocrisy and the Refal of Servic | PopMatters

Contents:

• DID A TENNSEE HARDWARE STORE PUT UP A 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' SIGN?
• HERE’S WHAT THE LAW SAYS ABOUT TENNSEE’S ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ STORE
• 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' SIGN RETURNS TO TENNSEE STORE FOLLOWG MASTERPIECE CAKHOP SUPREME COURT RULG
• OLD 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' HARDWARE STORE SIGN CONTROVERSY GO VIRAL AFTER SUPREME COURT DECISN
• HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY
• 'NO GAYS ALLOWED': TENNSEE STORE OWNER PUTS SIGN BACK UP AFTER SCOTUS LG
• BOY SUTS RENFIRM POLICY: NO GAYS ALLOWED
• ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ BILLBOARD TIM SQUARE CALLS OUT AN INSID HATE GROUP YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF
• A TENNSEE STORE PUT UP A "NO GAYS ALLOWED" SIGN — AND 'S TOTALLY LEGAL
• ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED,’ GRAGER COUNTY STORE OWNER FENDS NTROVERSIAL SIGN
• TENNSEE STORE PUTS ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ SIGN BACK UP AFTER SUPREME COURT KE LG
• NO GAYS ALLOWED: RELIG HYPOCRISY AND THE REFAL OF SERVIC
• TENNSEE HARDWARE STORE PUTS UP 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' SIGN
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• HARDWARE STORE WH ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ SIGN PAYS FOR ON YELP

DID A TENNSEE HARDWARE STORE PUT UP A 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' SIGN?

The phrase "no gays allowed" was one of the top ten trendg topics on Twter on the morng of 7 June 2018, a few days after the Supreme Court led favor of a Colorado bakery that had refed to bake a ke for a gay weddg.

The store's Twter feed is full of homophobic msag, the featured image on the store's web se asks visors to choose between the Christian flag and the Amerin one, they have sold homophobic merchandise, and the profile picture of the store's Twter profile still shows, as of this wrg, the owner of the store posg next to the now-famo sign:. But yet I’m gog to take more persecutn than them bee I’m standg for what I believe , ” Amyx told USA some public ntroversy, Amyx Hardware & Roofg Suppli took down the “no gays” sign and replaced wh one statg that the store rerv the right to refe service based on eedom of speech and while the natnal news media had a field day over the sign—termg part of the Christian backlash agast the marriage equaly lg—there’s a simple explanatn that almost no one has Amyx did was totally Tennsee, jt as 28 other U.

It’s legal to tell an LGBT person to get out of a public park, to refe to serve them a meal a rtrant, to ny them re at a doctor’s office, or to cle to open a bank acunt for someone bee they are gay or transgenr.

HERE’S WHAT THE LAW SAYS ABOUT TENNSEE’S ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ STORE

" The sign, om a group of LGBTQ activists who lnched the "No Gays Allowed" mpaign, is tend to shock and to ll attentn to the heo anti-LGBTQ missn of the group Alliance Defendg Freedom, acrdg to a release.

'NO GAYS ALLOWED' SIGN RETURNS TO TENNSEE STORE FOLLOWG MASTERPIECE CAKHOP SUPREME COURT RULG

And crimalizatn abroad; fend state-sanctned sterilizatn of trans people abroad, lked homosexualy to pedophilia, and has claimed that the "homosexual agenda" will stroy Christiany and society, acrdg to the Southern Poverty Law Center. It has now asked the high urt to review a se which is advotg for a funeral home's right to fire an employee bee she is Tim Square billboard, which clus the web addrs for the No Gays Allowed mpaign, where ADF's many transgrsns agast LGBTQ people are broken down, is expected to rema there until Febary, acrdg to NBC News.

A Tennsee man who put up a "No Gays Allowed" sign outsi his hardware store 2015 has hung back up "celebratn" of the recent Supreme Court lg allowg a Colorado baker the right to not serve a same-sex Amyx first posted the sign at his Amyx Hardware & Roofg Suppli store Grager County three years ago after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. "However, the origal "No Gays Allowed" sign has returned to the store the wake of the Supreme Court 7-2 majory lg favor of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakhop, who refed to sell a weddg ke to a gay uple 2012, cg his relig beliefs.

OLD 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' HARDWARE STORE SIGN CONTROVERSY GO VIRAL AFTER SUPREME COURT DECISN

In their lg on the se of Masterpiece Cakhop agast The Colorado Civil Rights Commissn, the urt said although Colorado law n protect gay people acquirg products and servic on the same terms and ndns as are offered to other members of the public, the law "mt be applied a manner that is ntral toward relign.

"The oute of s like this other circumstanc mt awa further elaboratn the urts, all the ntext of regnizg that the disput mt be rolved wh tolerance, whout undue disrpect to scere relig beliefs, and whout subjectg gay persons to digni when they seek goods and servic an open market, " Kennedy wrote. | (Photo: Screengrab, YouTube)A "No Gays Allowed" sign that was placed the wdow of a Tennsee hardware store 2015 reigned bate onle light of the Supreme Court's Monday lg favor of a Colorado baker's relig liberty claims.

Jeff Amyx, owner of Amyx Hardware & Roofg Suppli Grager County, Tennsee posted a "No Gays Allowed" sign the ont wdow of his store durg the summer of 2015 followg the Supreme Court's lg that legalized same-sex marriage natnwi, but then took down amid public outcry, as was reported by USA Today at the story was recirculated orr to further the false claim that acknowledgg the relig eedom of Christians will yield homosexuals beg banned om public acmodatns, which the cisn  Masterpiece Cake Shop v.

HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY

Kennedy dismissed the ia that Phillips had sentially placed a "No Gays Allowed" sign his store wdow; the jtice explaed that Colorado had other optns as to how they uld have rpond given the circumstanc and that any cisn favor of Phillips "would have to be sufficiently nstraed, lt all purveyors of goods and servic who object to gay marriag for moral and relig reasons effect be allowed to put up signs sayg 'no goods or servic will be sold if they will be ed for gay marriag, ' somethg that would impose a ser stigma on gay persons. Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cak wants NOTHING to do wh this genue bigotry and we mt all know the difference between this and the ee exercise of our fahl Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) June 7, 2018Conservative mentator Erick Erickson weighed on an siar note, wrg that "[s]ayg 'no gays allowed' a bs should be as offensive to Christians as tellg Christians they mt provi goods and servic to relig ceremoni they view as an afont to God.

He is not ditive of a broad swath of Christians who are sudnly barrg gay people om their tablishments, " he Brandon Showalter on Facebook: BrandonMarkShowalter Follow Brandon Showalter on Twter: @BrandonMShowFree Relig Freedom UpdatJo thoands of others to get the FREEDOM POST newsletter for ee, sent twice a week om The Christian Post. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Kamala Harris has been a vol supporter of LGBTQ rightsUS Vice-Print Kamala Harris who is on a tour of three Ain untri - Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia - has drawn cricism over her support for LGBTQ Ghana, a speech llg for "all people be treated equally" she appeared to cricise a bill before the untry's parliament which crimalis advocy for gay rights and propos jail terms for those that intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, or untry's Speaker Alban Bagb later lled her remarks "unmocratic" and urged lawmakers not to be "timidated by any person" Tanzania, a former mister spoke agast US support for LGBTQ rights ahead of the vis and Zambia some opposn policians have threatened to hold is homosexualy still outlawed?

'NO GAYS ALLOWED': TENNSEE STORE OWNER PUTS SIGN BACK UP AFTER SCOTUS LG

In the same month, the high urt Barbados stck out laws that crimalised gay July last year, the urts Antigua and Barbuda clared a law crimalisg same-sex acts between nsentg adults Febary 2021, Angola's Print Joao Louren signed to law a revised penal to allow same-sex relatnships and ban discrimatn on the basis of sexual 2020, Gabon reversed a law that had crimalised homosexualy and ma gay sex punishable wh six months prison and a large fe. Mozambique and the Seychell have also scrapped anti-homosexualy laws recent there are untri where existg laws outlawg homosexualy have been tightened, cludg Nigeria and 's parliament recently passed a law to crack down on homosexual activi, promptg wispread source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Campaign agast LGBTQ rights some Ain untri has tensified recent weeksAnd some untri, efforts to get the laws removed have May 2019, the high urt Kenya upheld laws crimalisg homosexual acts. And many plac, breakg the laws uld be punishable by long prison of the 53 untri the Commonwealth - a loose associatn of untri most of them former Brish loni - 29 have laws that crimalise homosexualy.

Although the origal Brish laws applied only to men, untri that crimalise homosexualy today also have penalti for women who have sex wh Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (Ilga) monors the progrs of laws relatg to homosexualy around the says the ath penalty is the legally prcribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts Bnei, Iran, Mrania, Sdi Arabia, Yemen and some northern stat of five untri - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the Uned Arab Emirat - there is no legal clary and the ath penalty uld be source, AFPImage ptn, An Indian gay rights activist protts agast a urt lg 2013 upholdg a law which crimalis gay repealed the ath penalty for nsensual same-sex sexual acts observers note that the risk of prosecutn some plac is mimal. For example, a 2017 report on Jamai by the UK Home Office said that Jamai was regard as a homophobic society, but that the "thori do not actively seek to prosecute LGBT persons".

A special mtee of Sut executiv and adult volunteers formed 2010 nclud unanimoly that the anti-gay policy was the "absolute bt" for the 112-year-old anizatn, natnal spokman Deron Smh, told The Associated said reprented "a diversy of perspectiv and opns, " but did not name the members of that mtee.

BOY SUTS RENFIRM POLICY: NO GAYS ALLOWED

"I believe the vast majory of Sut fai do not support their policy on excludg gays, and if that is the se, they picked an awfully tertg way of affirmg that their report, " Wahls said. Supreme Court sid wh the Boy Suts of Ameri, lg 5-4 that the anizatn was exempt om state laws that bar anti-gay urt overturned a lg by the New Jersey Supreme Court to require a troop to readm a longtime gay sutmaster who had been Girl Suts of Ameri has had a diversy policy and non-discrimatn clse sce Print Herndon Graddick exprsed dismay over the cisn.

‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ BILLBOARD TIM SQUARE CALLS OUT AN INSID HATE GROUP YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF

“The laws and the Constutn n, and some stanc mt, protect gay persons and gay upl the exercise of their civil rights, ” the urt found, “but relig and philosophil objectns to gay marriage are protected views and some stanc protected forms of exprsn. — Sheryl Lynne ReSister #ImpeachTheMF (@shossy2) June 10, 2018\n\nAmyx ught the attentn of social media back June 2018 after hangg homophobic signs on the ont door of his bs that read, “No gays allowed, ” “Choose god or gays, ” and “We rerve the right to refe service to anyone who would vlate our rights of eedom of speech and eedom of relign. Via Yelpvia Yelpvia YelpReviewers on Google even re-tegorized his bs as a gay Googlevia Googlevia Googlevia GoogleEventually, Yelp flagged the page for a clean up and began to pull down the negative reviews.

A TENNSEE STORE PUT UP A "NO GAYS ALLOWED" SIGN — AND 'S TOTALLY LEGAL

”However, Google still has the bs listed as a gay bar and don’t appear to have touched a sgle people should have the eedom to exercise their relign how they choose, people should also not be discrimated agast bee of their sexualy. But far om promotg LGBTQ excln and persecutn Amerin culture, the billboard’s goal is que the oppose: Commissned by a queer advocy group lled Cizens for Transparency, directs people to the se, aimed at outg a heretofore -the-shadows anizatn, Alliance Defendg Freedom (ADF), which is hellbent on fightg gay rights tooth and nail.

‘NO GAYS ALLOWED,’ GRAGER COUNTY STORE OWNER FENDS NTROVERSIAL SIGN

Labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and operatn for more than two s, ADF has s fgers nearly every anti-gay iative you n thk of: the crimalizatn of homosexualy and gay sex, stroyg laws that prevent discrimatn agast LGBTQ people, and — the e célèbre of so many bad-meang bigots — rtrictn of the trans muny’s bathroom rights. Among the founrs of ADF are the “fluential Christians” who have wrten such lghable books as Marriage Unr Fire and The Homosexual Agenda: Exposg the Prcipal Threat to Relig Freedom Today.

TENNSEE STORE PUTS ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ SIGN BACK UP AFTER SUPREME COURT KE LG

Alliance Defendg Freedom has remaed largely ‘unr the radar’ until fairly recently, as the Southern Poverty Law Center tells NBC only learned of the hateful anizatn 2013, when was advisg anti-gay overseas anizatns on how to keep laws crimalizg gay sex on the books.

Wh gay marriage now a secured right among Amerins — and wh stat’ trans “bathroom bills, ” the mol for which was drafted by ADF, failg to acplish their goals — ADF has shifted to what is seemgly the new battleground for LGBTQ protectns, relig eedom laws. About the “No Gays Allowed” billboard, Qun tells NBC, “It’s gog to lead people to ask qutns, and that’s really important — to start a nversatn, and to have that nversatn be rponse to this billboard, not the msagg of the ADF. Jeff Amyx, a baptist mister who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofg Suppli, told WBIR 10 News that he put up the sign bee he's religly opposed to gay and lbian upl, and that he has no tent of takg the sign down.

NO GAYS ALLOWED: RELIG HYPOCRISY AND THE REFAL OF SERVIC

But unlike discrimatn agast black people and other racial mori, this type of discrimatn agast gay and lbian people is totally legal — not jt Tennsee, but most other stat the US. As a rult, more than half of LGBTQ Amerins, acrdg to the LGBTQ advocy group Movement Advancement Project, live a state where, unr state law, an employer n legally fire someone bee he's gay, a landlord n legally evict someone bee she's lbian, and a hotel manager n legally ny service to someone who's transgenr — for no reason other than the person's sexual orientatn or genr inty. In a 2014 poll om YouGov and the Huffgton Post, 62 percent of rponnts said was already illegal unr feral law to fire someone for beg gay or lbian, 14 percent said was legal, and 25 percent weren't sure.

On Tuday, Amyx took down the “No Gays Allowed” sign and put up a sign that reads “We rerve the right to refe service to anyone who would vlate our rights of eedom of speech and eedom of relign. A Tennsee hardware store owner is celebratg the Supreme Court’s lg favor of a bakery that refed to bake a ke for a gay uple’s weddg by placg a “No Gays Allowed” sign ont of his store. Be not ceived: neher fornitors, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effemate, nor abers of themselv wh mankd ( some versns of the Bible, this last phrase reads “nor homosexuals”).

TENNSEE HARDWARE STORE PUTS UP 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' SIGN

Jeff ma the natnal news recently after postg a “No Gays Allowed” sign the wdow of his store; however, he soon changed the sign to read “We rerve the right to refe service to anyone who would vlate our rights of eedom of speech & eedom of relign”. Although the sign is more general, the fact that he began sellg hats and bumper stickers readg “No Gays Allowed” and “Choose God or Gays” signs mak pretty clear to whom his new sign refers.

Such selective enforcement of Biblil teachgs don’t lead to the assumptn that the enforcer is a man or woman of ep relig fah; leads to the assumptn that he or she is homophobic. Claims suggtg that this story is a reactn to the June 2018 Supreme Court lg are East Tennsee hardware store owner cid to exprs his beliefs followg the Supreme Court's lg allowg same-sex marriage by puttg up a sign that reads, "No Gays Allowed. "Jeff Amyx, who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofg Suppli Grager County, Tennsee., about an hour outsi of Knoxville, add the "No Gays Allowed" sign on Monday, bee gay and lbian upl are agast his, who is also a baptist mister, said he realized Monday morng that LGBT people are not aaid to stand for what they believe .

But yet I'm gog to take more persecutn than them bee I'm standg for what I believe , " Amyx Tuday, Amyx removed the "No Gays allowed" sign and replaced wh a sign that says: "We rerve the right to refe service to anyone who would vlate our rights of eedom of speech & eedom of relign. But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial. The bill, which passed Florida’s Senate last week and the state’s Hoe of Reprentativ Febary, do, however, nta the terms “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty, ” each legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn.

HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO

”Beyond brandg, a re argument over the bill centers around whether would prohib the “stctn” or “discsn” of sexual bill’s sponsors have emphatilly stated that the bill would not prohib stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 adly attack on the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando.

Sce s foundg nearly 25 years ago, ADF has been lked to efforts seekg to crimalize homosexualy, rtrict transgenr people’s accs to sex-segregated facili and perm bs to ny service to LGBTQ Ca, a spokman for Cizens for Transparency, the advocy group behd the mpaign, said the powerful nonprof law group has fought for years to unrme lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer rights, often behd the scen. ”“RELENTLESSLY EXTREME”ADF was found 1994 by a group of fluential Christian lears, cludg Alan Sears, -thor of the 2003 book "The Homosexual Agenda: Exposg the Prcipal Threat to Relig Freedom Today, ” and Jam Dobson, founr of Foc on the Fay and thor of the 2004 book “Marriage Unr Fire, ” which claimed same-sex marriage would “stroy the fundamental prcipl of marriage, parenthood and genr. “There is no fundamental right ‘eply rooted this Natn’s history and tradns’ to engage same-sex sodomy, ” the brief also ntributed to iend of the urt briefs agast expandg gay rights other landmark Supreme Court s, cludg same-sex marriage s Obergefell v.

HARDWARE STORE WH ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ SIGN PAYS FOR ON YELP

They clu Evan Wolfson, founr of Freedom to Marry; Kate Kenll, executive director of the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights; Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN (formerly the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network); and Christe Qun, the former speaker of the New York Cy, an out lbian, told NBC News she hop the billboard and broar mpaign will spur awarens around ADF’s efforts to curtail LGBTQ rights and the challeng the muny still fac.

The ments are showsg support for the muny, wh some pictg the store as the “Sodom and Gomorrah” the owner so clearly Twter, Yelp, and even Google Maps, priful LGBTQ muny members and alli are cshg the homophobic tablishment of Jeff Amyx, the owner of Amyx Hardware and Roofg Suppli Washburn, Tennsee.