As the mouthpiece for the virulently homophobic religious right, it's not surprising that the "Fair & Balanced" Fox News is fully on board with propaganda about how those evil gays are just trying to ruin the livelihood of Jesus loving, homo hating Christians. In September, the gang on the Fox & Friends curvy couch were in full agreement that Christian bakers had every right to discriminate against gay bullies because, ya know, religious freedom. Flash forward to December and America's flagship show for persecuted, heterosexual Christians is now championing the cause of a Christian baker whose refusal to bake a cake for a gay couple was considered to be a violation of Colorado law. As articulated by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, in addition to this being a violation of religious freedom, it's causing "THE DEATH OF FREE ENTERPRISE!" Oh, the horror, the horror!!!
This morning, the opening visual was a cartoon, accompanied by loud music, which took the viewer on a fast journey through a cartoon town into a graveyard. The graphic, which was also the title and the propaganda message for the piece was "The Death of Free Enterprise." After the sound of laughter on the set, good Christian Elisabeth Hasselbeck, reported that a "cake shop owner in Colorado is facing fines or even jail time after he refused to bake a cake for a same sex wedding due to his religious beliefs." The chyron set the homophobic message and bizarro world view that gays are bullies: "Bake Shop Shakedown, Judge Orders Owner To Bake for Gay Wedding." Her question advanced the propaganda message: “Does becoming a business owner mean you have to check your convictions at the door?" The visual beside her declared "THE DEATH OF FREE ENTERPRISE."
After the graphic, "THE DEATH OF FREE ENTERPRISE," filled the screen, Hasselbeck introduced her guest, baker Jack Phillips and his lawyer Nicolle Martin from Fox News' favorite homophobic (but very Christian) legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom. Phillips provided the backstory of how, when he was asked, by two gay men, to do their wedding cake, he told them he didn't do same sex wedding cakes. He noted that he offered to do other cakes for them. Hasselbeck mentioned that there were protests.The chyron continued to advance the anti-gay agitprop: "So Much for Freedom, Bake Shop Owner Asked To Compromise Beliefs." To Hasselbeck's prompt, Phillips asserted that he believed that he was acting in accordance with the Colorado and US Constitution which guarantee his religious rights.
Rather than mentioning that the judge determined that baking cakes is not religious conduct, Hasselbeck continued to push the persecuted Christian/gay agenda propaganda: "Why is it important for you to have a business and not have to abandon personal religious beliefs just to make a buck?" Phillips said his profession is "what God designed for me to do" and that he shouldn't be required to "drop his religious conviction." The chyron provided more validation: "Refusing to Fold, Phillips Stands By Religious Beliefs."
Hasselbeck expressed concern about how this could "set precedence for private business having to completely shed what they believe personally to offer to something to a consumer." Martin spoke of religious freedom and how, if good Christians are forced to go to jail because of their religious beliefs, "there's no freedom they can take away." Phillips said he's willing to go to jail rather than bake a gay wedding cake because he would be "participating in" the wedding. Rather than providing any counterpoint, Hasselbeck reinforced the propganda: "Do you feel as though you are forfeiting your own rights and being forced, in other words, to participate in their wedding by making a cake for them?” He agreed that this was the case and that "as a follower of Jesus Christ" he doesn't believe that this is what Jesus wants him to do. The chyron set the patented Fox "controversy." In a reverential tone, Hasselbeck thanked them and "wished" them "well."
So I guess Elisabeth would have no problem with Christian bakers who refuse to bake a cake for- oh, say - interracial couples if "miscegenation" is against their religious beliefs?! Fox News, fair & balanced & not a fan of the Constitutional right to "equal protection." Ya think?
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NOTE TO LIZZY
If a bakery refused to sell a cake to your gay child you would be blasting that bakery right now on that cheap, curvy couch, you bimbo.
Now, having posted all that, there isn’t really anything that would prohibit a business owner from posting signs which would allow potential customers to know what kind of bigot the owner wishes to practice. For instance, a big sign saying “This business disapproves of marriage equality” (much like the doctors’ offices in Florida which posted signs “advising” Obama supporters that they probably wouldn’t be welcome in the practice). OR, they could do things that would make some customers uncomfortable such as playing hellfire-and-brimstone sermons or have a TV playing rebroadcasts of the 700 Club and other right-wing evangelical crap (sort of an evangelical version of the stereotyped comic and gaming shop, designed to horrify or terrify potential female customers and, occasionally, male customers).
But you’re also forgetting that people do like convenience. This particular bakery may have just been closer for the men who tried to get their cake. It’s not really fair to make a potential customer have to go out of his or her way to accomodate a businessman’s personal bigotry. This guy was only being asked to bake a cake—nothing more. (And, from what I hear, the judge in this case noted that the bakery actually made a “wedding cake” for a couple of dogs—literal animals that go woof. But the last time I checked, no government sanctions “weddings” for dogs and I’m not aware of any religious body that permits a minister or priest to officiate at a “doggy wedding.” I didn’t read if the dogs were of the same breed or if they were a “mixed” couple but either way, isn’t that a bit more of a “travesty” to the “institution of marriage” than a same-sex wedding would be? To all the heteros who claim their marriages will be lessened if gay or lesbian couples can wed, how do you feel about your marriage knowing that some dogs are “married” just like you and your spouse?)
Would this baker have even been able to tell he was making a cake for a gay wedding?
If an LBGT came in to pick up a cake for a straight couple, would he have denied them the cake because a gay person came to pick it up? Once again, how would he tell the person was gay? It’s not like they’re gonna send in someone who’ll “Chris Crocker” it. Or come in dressed like Jeffree Star.
Gay people humiliate these bigots all the time by making these kinds of runs around them. Even if said bigot suspects one of them is gay, or that the person who picks it up is gay, there’s still no problem because the couple is marrying straight. So Yes- They would “abandon personal religious beliefs for a buck.”