Tag: LGBT discrimination

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Indiana bakery denies wedding cake to same-sex couple despite public accommodation law

From the Facebook page of 111 Cakery in Indianapolis:

We have made it our commitment to treat every person that walks through the door with Respect & Kindness. It is important to know that we have never refused to do business with any person based on who they are or what they believe. As Christians we have a sincere love for people.

As artist we must find the inspiration to create something special for our clients. When asked to do a cake for an occasion or with a theme (alcohol explicit in nature) that is in opposition to our faith, that inspiration is not found. We feel that it is important for a paying customer to know when this is the case. Why would you want a cake that is less then inspired for your special event. That is why this week we told a man that requested a cake for a same sex ceremony that it was against our policy but we would be happy to help him with anything else. It was not that we wanted to deny them a cake it’s just tough to create something that goes against your beliefs. Was this the right thing to say? Maybe not but this phone call caused us to do a lot of soul searching because we want to be right with our God as well as respect others. We have not heard from this man but would welcome a chance to meet with him. We sincerely wish them the best.

Please know that there is zero hate here. We are not judging the lives of our clients. We are not trying to make a political statement or change someone’s mind. We respect the fact that everyone has different values and believes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion we would encourage you to share those in a respectful way. We have happily done cakes for gay people, as well as people with different believes. We are just a small family business trying to bring happiness with cake. You may criticize this response but realize it is sincere and from the heart not a letter drafted by an attorney. We thank our friends, customers and others in the community for your support. – The McGath Family

The comments to the post are overwhelmingly in support of the LGBT community.

While Indiana as a state does not have public accommodation protections for sexual orientation, the city of Indianapolis (where 111 Cakery is located), does have such protections. For the bakery to discriminate based on sexual orientation at it’s present location would be against the law.

By the way, it should be noted that the bakery is apparently in or very near a primarily gay neighborhood.

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Award-winning singer/songwriter Justin Utley’s powerful testimony to Utah legislators on LGBT equality

Watch the powerful testimony of OutMusic Award winner Justin Utley to Utah lawmakers at a meeting organized by Utah state senators Steve Urquhart (R) and Jim Dabakis (D), and attended by a group of legislators from both sides of the aisle to begin a dialogue between lawmakers and the LGBT community in search of tolerance, understanding and protected rights.

Justin spoke to the crowd about experiencing discrimination first hand when he lost his job after an employer found an email he sent about the death of his gay partner. “She (his employer) said that had they known I was gay during the interview process, they would not have hired me.”

But Justin’s view of the future for his home state remains hopeful. “There is a spoke in the wheel of this state that needs to be fixed. My hope is that together, from this moment on, we can build that bridge of understanding and we can begin to work together to build a state that we can all be proud of.”

Justin’s OutMusic Award-winning song “Stand For Something” was born from his own desire to motivate community action towards securing LGBT equality in America.

Watch his full testimony below:

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Dan Savage has advice for anti-gay bakers and florists

“Here’s a suggestion for all the hatey, butt-sore, anti-gay bakers in Arizona: start an organization—The Arizona Association of Homophobic Bakers—and publicly identify yourselves as homophobic bakers. Put up a website with a list of bakeries that don’t want to do business with LGBT people. Put signs in your windows that clearly state that gay and lesbian customers are not welcome and will be turned away.

“As Anderson Cooper pointed out earlier this week, gays and lesbians are not covered by existing anti-discrimination law in Arizona. So it’s perfectly legal right now for bakers—and florists and caterers and photographers—to discriminate against LGBT customers. Discriminating against LGBT people was legal in Arizona before Jan Brewer vetoed the turn-away-the-gays bill, and it remains legal after her veto. So homophobic bakers who identify themselves as haters and bigots run no legal risk. They can’t be sued by the individual gay people they discriminate against and the authorities can’t fine ’em or shut ’em down.

“Don’t want gay customers? Great. Let us know who you are. Put up a list online, hang signs in your windows, and we will take our business elsewhere.”

– Dan Savage writing for The Stranger

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George Will: Gays are “sore winners” for wanting marriage equality AND no discrimination

On FOX News Sunday, George Will joined Chris Wallace to talk about Arizona’s recent anti-gay bill and Gov. Brewer’s subsequent veto.

While pointing out that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 said that businesses had to serve everyone equally, Will added:

“…This too must be said: It’s a funny kind of sore winner in the gay rights movement that would say, ‘A photographer doesn’t want to photograph my wedding — I’ve got lots of other photographers I could go to, but I’m going to use the hammer of government to force them to do this.’… It’s not neighborly and it’s not nice. The gay rights movement is winning. They should be, as I say, not sore winners.”

To be honest, I’m not completely sure what he means by this. On a surface level, it would seem Will thinks “you’re winning the right to marriage equality, don’t push it any further. Stop asking for non-discrimination too.  It’s ‘not neighborly.'”

(via Towleroad)

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Scotland hopes to offer asylum to persecuted LGBT Ugandans

Scotland’s Minister of External Affairs hopes to offer asylum to LGBT Ugandans who feel persecuted by “Anti-Homosexuality Act” in Uganda.

Via Herald Scotland:

Scotland is to offer asylum to Ugandans facing persecution under the country’s oppressive new legislation against its gay population.

Humza Yousaf, Minister For External Affairs, has written to UK Foreign Secretary William Hague detailing the Scottish Government’s gesture to welcome “any Ugandan” persecuted by the new laws.

It comes on the back of an outcry from the international community at the Ugandan anti-gay legislation and concern over the welcome being extended to countries with anti-gay laws during the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

With prominent members of the Ugandan government due in Glasgow this summer, the Scottish Government will also meet representatives of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) groups to discuss proposals on handling human rights issues during the event.

Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni this week signed a bill that includes life sentences for gay sex and same-sex marriage.

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Singer/songwriter Justin Utley speaks to Utah lawmakers about LGBT discrimination

Award-winning singer/songwriter Justin Utley speaks to legislators and community members
in Salt Lake City regarding LGBT equality.

In late February, Salt Lake City hosted a meeting organized by Utah state senators Steve Urquhart (R) and Jim Dabakis (D), and attended by a group of legislators from both sides of the aisle to begin a dialogue between lawmakers and the LGBT community in search of tolerance, understanding and protected rights.

GOP Sen. Urquhart is the sponsor of SB100, an anti-discrimination bill for the state of Utah which will not be voted on this year due to an uncertain outcome regarding the appeals process currently underway regarding marriage equality.

The state’s voter-approved ban on marriage equality was ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge in December and has since moved on to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

But the point of the evening’s gathering was not about marriage but understanding LGBT lives on a personal level.

One of those sharing his own journey was openly gay singer/songwriter (and native Utahan) Justin Utley.   Justin spoke to the crowd about experiencing discrimination first hand when he lost his job after an employer found an email he sent about the death of his gay partner. “She (his employer) said that had they known I was gay during the interview process, they would not have hired me.”

But Justin’s view of the future for his home state remains hopeful. “There is a spoke in the wheel of this state that needs to be fixed. My hope is that together, from this moment on, we can build that bridge of understanding and we can begin to work together to build a state that we can all be proud of.”

You can watch Justin’s full testimony below:

Looking back on the event, Utley told The Randy Report, “It was incredible to be there and see senators and state lawmakers in Utah’s capitol with a heartfelt interest in moving forward with a LGBTQ non-discrimination bill in my home state. It was a huge step forward, and the start of something big. It was an honor to be part of the discussion.”

Justin’s OutMusic Award-winning song “Stand For Something” was born from his own desire to motivate community action towards securing LGBT equality in America.

Watch KSL TV’s report, featuring Justin Utley, below:

(source)

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Bill Donohue needs to ‘see’ gay discrimination before he will believe it exists

Catholic League’s Bill Donohue sat down with CNN’s Chris Cuomo to talk over the governor of Arizona’s veto of the “License to Discriminate” bill.

Donohue began by accusing President Barack Obama’s administration of “encroaching on the rights of people of faith” in a variety of areas. “Gays as individuals, I’m with you on that Chris, let’s protect them in the workplace, let’s protect them as individuals,” Donohue insisted. “What my concern is, and I think I speak for a lot of people of faith, is the institution of marriage. That’s a separate issue altogether.”

“Where are the examples of gays being discriminated against?” Donohue asked. “If they’re being discriminated against, how come they make more money than straight people on average?”

“Is somebody being denied at Applebee’s getting a hamburger? Where are these examples?” he followed up.

“Under the law in Arizona, there is no special protection of the LGBT community, so a business member, if he or she wanted to or she wanted to, could discriminate without violation,” Como said. “That’s why the law was unnecessary. Do you get that?”

“Can you enumerate for me examples of gay people in Arizona who are having their right violated by people of faith?” Donohue asked.

“Can you point out a business that was made a substantial burden religiously because of what they had to do vis-a-vis a gay person?” Cuomo shot back.

In this clip, Bill Donohue either proves he doesn’t have a firm grasp of the issue of equal rights for gays OR he is once again demonstrating his talent for obfuscating the truth.

(via Mediaite)

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Anderson Cooper rips Arizona lawmaker on anti-gay bill SB-1062

If not for the fact that SB-1062 is such a hideous bill, you could almost feel sorry for the politically tone deaf state Senator Al Melvin here.

With no facts or reasons to support the bill, he digs a deeper and deeper hole the more he talks, especially when he states that “discrimination doesn’t exist in Arizona.”

Anderson Cooper interviews Arizona state senator Al Melvin Monday night regarding the state’s proposed legislation to allow businesses to exercise their religious freedom to discriminate against LGBT citizens.

Melvin insisted, “It’s nothing more and nothing less than protecting religious freedom in our state.”

Cooper noted how Arizona doesn’t expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and grilled Melvin on why, then, they would need to reaffirm a right that isn’t under threat in the state in the first place.

Cooper asked, “Can you give me a specific example of someone in Arizona who’s been forced to do something against their religious belief or successfully sued because of their faith?”

Melvin said he could not, arguing the bill is “preemptive.”

Watch the interview below.

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Arizona: More and more major corporations urge veto of anti-gay SB-1062

And the chorus of corporations calling for a veto of SB-1062 gets that much louder as Apple asks Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the highly controversial legislation:

Brewer spokesman Andrew Wilder said the governor spoke on the phone with the company.

The request comes as Apple prepares to open a new sapphire glass manufacturing plant in Mesa. The plant, which Brewer and other political leaders have touted as economic development coup for Arizona, will employ about 700 full-time employees.

With its veto request, Apple joins other anti-SB1062 business groups that have asked Brewer to veto the controversial bill. The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Technology Council, Greater Phoenix Economic Council and Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce came out against the bill the day after the Legislature passed it. The influential Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and Greater Phoenix Leadership have since sought a veto from Brewer as well.

Both Arizona Senators McCain and Flake have urged a veto.

Three Republican state senators who originally voted for the bill have decided it was a mistake.

(via Arizona Capitol Times)