Saturday, February 07, 2015

Of Homophobic Bakeries

Here in Oregon there's been (yet another) big dust up over a bakery refusing to produce a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.  You can probably find a lot of stories on it; but if you need help, you can start here.

Anyway, the OR Bureau of Labor and Industries found that the bakery did discriminate and fined them for doing so.  The Christian right is screaming, "Persecution!!"  Which, of course, is total bullshit because, really, you aren't being persecuted if your business is required treat people equally.

The owners of the bakery, and others caught in this situation, have consistently claimed, "Hey . . . I don't have anything against gays, it's just that my deeply held religious beliefs tell me a marriage is between a man and a woman and I can't support a same-sex marriage."

In other words: Yes, I think gays are icky and gross and going to hell and I want no part of them.

So, if religious, Christian owners of a bakeries consistently refuse to bake a wedding cake for gay couples on the basis that it goes against their "deeply held religious beliefs," let's see if they are consistent in other areas:

1.  They hold that marriage is a lifetime commitment between one man and one woman.  Have they ever baked wedding cakes for people who have been divorced and are remarrying?  If the answer is yes, then their argument fails.

2.  Conservative sexual ethics maintains that sex outside of marriage is wrong.  Have they ever baked wedding cakes for people who have engaged in premarital sex?  If the answer is yes, then their argument fails.

3.  One of the most "deeply held religious beliefs" of Christians is that there is one God.  Have they ever baked wedding cakes for atheists, agnostics, pagans, Hindus or others?  If the answer is yes, then their argument fails.

4.  One of the most basic tenets of Christianity is the Trinity.  Have they ever baked wedding cakes for a Jewish, Muslim or Unitarian couple?  If the answer is yes, then their argument fails.

Let's be honest here:  Claiming religious persecution over being forced to do business with same-sex couples, or lgbt people in general, has nothing to do with religious freedom or persecution, but it has everything to do with being able to find a legal way to uphold bigoted and homophobic attitudes.

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