Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop in Lakewood, Colorado is a devout Christian, whose beliefs about marriage are defined by the scriptures he holds to be a direct revelation from the Almighty. When two homosexual men, Dave Mullin and Charlie Craig went to the Masterpiece Cake Shop, they expected to quickly order a cake and walk out. Mr. Phillips informed the two men that he would under no circumstances make a cake for them, that he defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
The exchange wuickly turned heated when Mullins said ” ‘F**k you and your homophobic cake shop.’ and went to his Facebook page, and recounted the entire exchange to a sympathetic audience. The reaction was earth shaking. On Saturday, a loud angry demonstration took place in front of the Masterpiece Cake Shop. Phillips has made it clear that he will sell birthday cakes, graduation cakes or any other sort of celebratory cakes to anyone, but that he draws the line at wedding cakes, which he will only make for heterosexual couples.
“We would close down that bakery before we closed our beliefs, so that may be what it comes to … we’ll see,” said Mr. Phillips.
Have we come to the point when equal rights for homosexuals trumps all other civil rights that a person may have? There are millions of people who will never accept same sex marriage as having any sanctity. All that can be demanded of such people is that they refrain from physically attacking or discriminating against homosexuals in employment or housing. There is also a right of free association, and a multitude of rights revolving around deeply held religious beliefs.
The intolerance of angry homosexual militants will probably lead to a “buycott”. It may even lead to the setup of a legal framework where cakes ould be ordered through a church or other house of worship to avoid the noose being tightened around religious business owners. Homosexuals are not physically threatened by the refusal of religious conservatives to confer sanctity upon their relationships. To the contrary, they are quickly evolving into a mafia, a loose confederation of goon squads that enforces political correctness. Just as AIDS is wreaking havoc upon the homosexual community, it seems that homosexual political correctness and militancy is infecting the body politic. Is this the type of society we want to have?
