The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld an earlier ruling by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission that Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips violated the state’s public accommodation law when he refused to sell a gay couple a wedding cake in 2012.
Phillips’ attorneys asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the ruling, arguing the decision violates Phillips’ First Amendment rights. The attorneys argued he was not discriminating against same-sex couples, but rather refusing based on their intended conduct.
Court of Appeals justices, however, pointed out that same-sex couples are the only kind likely to engage in same-sex marriage.
“Masterpiece’s distinction, therefore, is one without a difference,” Thursday’s decision states. “But for their sexual orientation, Craig and Mullins would not have sought to enter into a same-sex marriage, and but for their intent to do so, Masterpiece would not have denied them its services.”
At the time, Phillips said that while he’d be happy to make the couple brownies or a birthday cake, due to his deeply religious beliefs he could not make a wedding cake for a gay wedding.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and hotelier Ian Reisner
The gay hoteliers who raised money for anti-gay Sen. Ted Cruz are at it again, only this time Ian Reisner held a NYC event for anti-gay Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.
A host and guests at a fundraiser held by embattled real estate developers Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass at their Central Park South penthouse donated at least $10,600 to Republican Ron Johnson, a right-wing US senator from Wisconsin who faces a 2016 challenge from Democrat Russ Feingold.
Reisner, who is gay, gave Johnson $2,700, the maximum allowed under federal election law. Reisner, who has otherwise largely supported Democrats, gave $2,700 to Hillary Clinton on June 15.
The hosts and the guests were supporting Johnson because of the senator’s support for Israel and his views on the Middle East, according to the press release, which described those in attendance as “a bipartisan group of Jewish business leaders –– both committed Republicans and several traditionally aligned with Democrats.”
The Out NYC and Reisner’s properties in the Pines on Fire Island came under boycott after the New York Times reported that he held an April 20 fundraiser for Republican Ted Cruz, a Texas senator and candidate for the Republican nomination for president. (This reporter has supported the boycott and played a role in organizing it.) The community objected to Reisner and Weiderpass taking money from their LGBT customers and giving it to anti-LGBT right-wingers.
After it was revealed that Reisner donated the personal maximum of $2,700 to Cruz after the April meeting (after previously saying “no funds were raised” at the dinner meeting), Reisner requested and received a refund from the Cruz campaign.
The Human Rights Campaign gives Johnson a zero ranking out of a possible 100 in the 113th Congress and a 15 out of a possible 100 in the 112th Congress. Johnson opposes same-sex marriage and voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would bar workplace discrimination.
Russ Feingold, Johnson’s opponent, who served 18 years in the U.S. Senate, had rankings from HRC in the high 80s/low 90s during his final six years in office.
The virulently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage has lost yet again in it’s efforts to hide their donor list from their campaign against marriage equality in Maine.
Maine’s ethics commission fined the National Organization for Marriage $50,250 last year for violating the state’s campaign finance laws and ordered it to file a campaign finance report that would reveal who supported the 2009 referendum that struck down Maine’s gay marriage law.
The group sought to delay filing of the report, pending the outcome of its appeal in court of the commission’s decision.
But the Maine Supreme Court denied that request Tuesday, saying it’s unlikely that NOM will be successful in its appeal.
Brian Brown, president of the group, said he believes NOM is being unfairly targeted because of its views on marriage.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was arrested and booked on three securities fraud charges.
Apparently during his time as a member of the Texas House, Paxton sold stock for Servergy Inc. In doing so, the indictment alleges that he failed to tell stock buyers he was compensated for his efforts with 100,000 shares of stock in the company.
The indictment also charges he was an investor in the company when it appears he was not.
Along the way, over $600,000 poured into the company due to his promotion.
You’ll note the smirk in his mug shot posted above.
The anti-gay Paxton has continued to fight against same-sex marriage in Texas despite the historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
Gay Star News reports on the latest project by the Odgaards, the Iowa couple who refused to host same-sex weddings in their art gallery (straight weddings were welcome).
The “Christian” couple were fined $5,000 for violating the state’s public accommodation laws since “open for business” means “open to everyone.”
Rather than allow the icky gay weddings, they voluntarily chose to stop hosting weddings at all.
Well, it all that freed up time, the couple established a tax-exempt charity called God’s Original Design Ministry, and has embarked on posting 1,000 billboards denouncing marriage equality. The first billboard went up south of Durant, Oklahoma a week ago.
‘This billboard is funded 100% by the your generous donations. One down and 999 to go for 1,000 points of light. Thank you and God bless!’ the Odgaards wrote in a post on new ministry’s Facebook page.
But the sign has been roundly condemned in the comments underneath.
‘Hate doesn’t look great on either side. Since it costs approximately between 500 and 8,000 to do this, that would help clothe and feed alot of homeless people (but I’m assuming only if they aren’t gay)?!’ wrote one.
‘I love how you forged God’s signature at the bottom!’ said another
The Odgaards recently appeared in a Ted Cruz campaign video in which they claimed they were ‘forced’ to close their wedding business because of their religious beliefs after they turned away a gay couple.
Brett Jones, a former Navy SEAL who received national attention after writing a memoir about his time in the elite military unit, has filed a complaint against a CIA contractor after receiving anti-gay harassment during a recent deployment in June as a CIA contractor.
After leaving the military in 2003, Jones became a military contractor. This recent assignment was his second deployment to Afghanistan since his book, “Pride: The Story of the First Openly Gay Navy SEAL,” which chronicled his 6 years as a SEAL.
But this mission, Jones sensed something was awry upon arrival.
Things seemed wrong as soon as his helicopter landed near his post in Afghanistan last month. Typically there was someone to pick up new arrivals and drive them and their gear to their headquarters. Not this time; he said he walked the quarter-mile to the compound.
He retreated to his room and found his floor dirty and a sheet smelling of feces. Jet-lagged and tired, he slept on the mattress, he recalled.
He overheard people calling him a “faggot,” and he said they were defensive when he confronted them about it.
And during a test ride of some of the team’s vehicles, he got out to walk a stretch through hairy terrain. The team ditched him in 120-degree temperatures, without water, forcing him to walk part way back to their compound before they stopped to let him back inside.
“I heard a faint laughing followed by a distant, ‘He can walk back!’ The door closed and they drove out of sight,” Jones said in a statement.
Ultimately, Jones said he feared for his life concerned that if he were to raise his voice, he could possibly suffer even worse harassment or worse. “Oh my God, what if they did something to try and hurt me and make it seem like an accident,” he said.
In the end, he arranged to leave the assignment early.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the congressional committee that oversees intelligence communities, issued this statement:
“We must embrace and foster diversity, which is why the Committee prioritized recruiting a diverse workforce in its annual authorization bill. There is no place for discrimination in our Intelligence Community workforce, and I will continue to monitor this case.”
Bryan Fischer, of the anti-gay American Family Association, says President Obama was “rude” to stand up for LGBT rights during his visit to Kenya over the weekend.
“These political leaders know what homosexual behavior does,” he said, and they “want something better for the African people than what homosexual conduct give them.”
These leaders do not need someone like Obama lecturing them, Fischer continued, because they “are more enlightened” than the United State on this issue.
“We are smart enough, we are bright enough, we are intelligent enough, we are sane enough to make this kind of behavior contrary to public policy,” Fischer said, as he approvingly laid out what he believe the correct African position on this issue to be. “We’re not going to embrace it, we’re not going to promote it, we’re not even going to make it legal.”
Nevertheless, President Obama went to Kenya and criticized laws criminalizing homosexuality which, Fischer said, “in my mind just makes him rude.”
Interestingly, Fischer says that most African nations outlaw homosexuality, in part, because the continent has been ravaged by AIDS.
What Fischer leaves out is that the vast majority of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa are heterosexual.
Last week, Rush Limbaugh told his diminishing radio audience that teenage boys today are having less sex because being gay is being portrayed in the media as “fun, hip, natural… you name it.”
On his radio show, Limbaugh says that although 30 years ago a fall in the number of teens having sex would have been seen as a good thing, in 2015 it’s a problem because we “have turned boys into…bullies…predators…or pajama boys.”
He goes on to argue that while heterosexual porn is portrayed as violent and aggressive towards women, gay sex is seen as “loving, sensitive, fun, hip, natural normal [and] cool.”
He concludes that confused teens will therefore choose to become gay because the “lifestyle” is constantly pushed at them.
I’ve personally never met a man (or teenager) who was truly straight say, “Hey, that gay stuff looks cool. Let me try some of that.”
Edge Media reports that a Canadian college professor was fired this week after he allegedly made a violent and anti-gay Facebook comment, officials announced Wednesday, according to the CBC.
Officials from St. Lawrence College said they received a complaint about business professor Rick Coupland, regarding a Facebook comment he allegedly made. The school’s spokeswoman said the comment was “deeply concerning.”
Screen shots of Coupland’s alleged post made their way on social media and shows him sharing a link to a story about a rainbow flag being raised in St. Petersburg, Fla., with his added comment: “It’s the queers they should be hanging, not the flag.”
According to Gay Star News, it was a former student who made the complaint to the college and posted screenshots of the comments to social media. The website also notes that Coupland later updated his status saying, “I have to get off Facebook for awhile. I’ve been called into work and told to bring a representative re: my comments on FB. Please pray for me and my job…”
The CBC reports the teacher’s Facebook profile has been deleted.
St. Lawrence College said Coupland’s remarks do not reflect the school’s values, noting it has a strict policy regarding the conduct of its employees. On Wednesday, the school confirmed that it had fired the professor.
Last week the creators of ChebuRussia TV published a video that documented how people in Moscow reacted to two young men walking around the city holding hands. The video has more than eight million views by now.
This experiment was widely discussed in Ukraine as well, and some speculated on whether the reaction to a similar couple in, say, Kyiv would be different.
Bird In Flight decided to see for themselves and filmed Zoryan and Tymur walking in crowded public spaces.
We can see that most of the people have a neutral opinion, they show no particular interest. This proves that the confrontation is between the two minorities.
The only problem is that one of the minorities is excessively aggressive. I think that law enforcement should start the so called ‘safari’ on aggressors, because the latter are discriminating against Ukrainians, popularizing violence and are making it clear with their actions and statements that law enforcement is insignificant to them and the aggression will remain unpunished.
