Florist who wouldn't sell flowers to gay couple loses big!

[Rainytown]

This just came across the wires in beautiful Washington State, home of some of the most stringent consumer protection laws in the nation. I'm sure this will be on the national news in 3..2..1. I'm sure we'll also be treated to screams of outrage from Rush Limbaugh, FAUX News and Smuggar's boss over this as well.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx ... OUuyi5GRIE

[Delilah]

What wonderful news!! :D

As for the reactions from the religious right goes, I'll just sit back and enjoy

the entertainment. :popcorn2:

[NellieBell]

Yes!!! And about damn time. I now want to move to Washington :D

[doggie]

Pearls are being clutched crosses are being polished persecution has started

[FloraKitty35]

Smuggar will have something new to tweet about, let see if he works his Aunt into this one.

[RosyDaisy]

I'm just waiting for shit like this to happen in Alabama to same sex couples who want real weddings instead of courthouse weddings.

[whoviana]

It is time that homophobes faced serious consequences for their actions, whether it's a florist or a doctor. I hope and pray that these processes accelerate overtime and within 10 years, refusing service to transgendered or same sex couples will be as surreal as thinking of those time when black people were forced to sit in the back of the bus.

[Phoenix]

Richland is in Eastern Washington and part of the Tri-Cities. Suffice to say the mountain range that divides Western And Eastern Washington is more than mere geography. Western Washington is notoriously liberal. Eastern Washington is equally notoriously conservative. You can pretty much count on Western WA being Democrat and Eastern WA Republican. Glad the florists got called on the carpet but expect they were astonished it happened.

[Rainytown]

Glad the florists got called on the carpet but expect they were astonished it happened.

It's unfortunate for them that they believed their location would cover their bigotry. The Washington State AG's office does not play.

The baker in Oregon that refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple also lost her suit (IIRC) this past week, so I'm imagining there will be plenty of outrage from the RW and cries of RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION !!!11!!!

[rainbow_vixen]

WOW! I want to move to Washington! Here in my home state we do not have equal rights so as I plan my wedding to my fiance I have to actually ask companies and venues if they serve same-sex couples because some don't...and they have that right!!! :angry-banghead:

Hopefully more states will soon follow Washington's example!!! :dance:

[Emme]

I'm just waiting for shit like this to happen in Alabama to same sex couples who want real weddings instead of courthouse weddings.

Someone enterprising should move to GA and start a gay-friendly wedding planning business/venue/cake/flower/caterer type business..

Edited to add: not to price gauge, but just because I sense Alabama will possibly need some support in the same-sex friendly venues department and want people to be able to get married while experiencing minimal bigotry and homophobia.

[NellieBell]

WOW! I want to move to Washington! Here in my home state we do not have equal rights so as I plan my wedding to my fiance I have to actually ask companies and venues if they serve same-sex couples because some don't...and they have that right!!! :angry-banghead:

Hopefully more states will soon follow Washington's example!!! :dance:

I am sorry you have to ask that question. It blows my mind that here we are in the 21 st century and this sort of shit still goes on. Fucking legally to boot. I take comfort in the fact that most of them are scared shitless and will be forced to act like human beings or take down their shingle, close up shop and revert to their caves.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!!! :D

[CloakNDagger]

The gloating on this makes me sick. If some "gay" person knows I'm a Christian and wants to not sell me flowers, I would just find another flower shop where they don't know me and buy them. I don't need to get in their face about my beliefs. It's annoying that you can be forced to do something you don't want to have anything to do with. Me? I'd sell to them anyway because I don't particularly feel that not selling to them is going to hurt me.

How would you feel if this was applied differently? What if some dude accused of manslaughter wanted to buy a gun and a gun store owner felt it was his responsibility to not sell to him because he thought he might use it the wrong way? I believe this is a double-standard.

[ShesCrafty]

The gloating on this makes me sick. If some "gay" person knows I'm a Christian and wants to not sell me flowers, I would just find another flower shop where they don't know me and buy them. I don't need to get in their face about my beliefs. It's annoying that you can be forced to do something you don't want to have anything to do with. Me? I'd sell to them anyway because I don't particularly feel that not selling to them is going to hurt me.

How would you feel if this was applied differently? What if some dude accused of manslaughter wanted to buy a gun and a gun store owner felt it was his responsibility to not sell to him because he thought he might use it the wrong way? I believe this is a double-standard.

Your analogy is laughable. The fact that you think selling someone a gun is the equivalent of selling someone flowers is absurd. Last I checked, no one has ever been shot to death by a daisy. :doh:

Also, your homophobia is coming through loud and clear, no need to use scare quotes around the word gay.

[CloakNDagger]

Your analogy is laughable. The fact that you think selling someone a gun is the equivalent of selling someone flowers is absurd. Last I checked, no one has ever been shot to death by a daisy. :doh:

Also, your homophobia is coming through loud and clear, no need to use scare quotes around the word gay.

I used the analogy because a lot of people believe that the right to keep and bear arms is a Constitutional, and/or God-given right if you read what they say. Way, more so than a "right" to buy flowers from someone.

And you read too much into my quote marks.

[16strong]

It is time that homophobes faced serious consequences for their actions, whether it's a florist or a doctor. I hope and pray that these processes accelerate overtime and within 10 years, refusing service to transgendered or same sex couples will be as surreal as thinking of those time when black people were forced to sit in the back of the bus.

That thought's lovely, but I have had the displeasure of attending a church that was still unofficially segregated (there was a black church in town and nobody cross party lines, if you get my drift). Conversely, I have also been to fast food places where I was served last because I was white. Racism is everywhere, and it will never completely end. Doesn't make it right, or mean that education can't greatly help the issue, just that there will always be stubborn boneheads that use any excuse they can to hate people that aren't like them.

That back of the bus sentiment isn't so surreal for some people. There are many who, if pressed, might even publicly admit that they long for those days again.

[ThisOlGirl]

I used the analogy because a lot of people believe that the right to keep and bear arms is a Constitutional, and/or God-given right if you read what they say. Way, more so than a "right" to buy flowers from someone.

And you read too much into my quote marks.

Then do tell, Cloak, what was the reason for putting the word gay in quotes? A straight answer will do, not some cryptic bullshit non-answer. Thanks.

[RosyDaisy]

Someone enterprising should move to GA and start a gay-friendly wedding planning business/venue/cake/flower/caterer type business..

Edited to add: not to price gauge, but just because I sense Alabama will possibly need some support in the same-sex friendly venues department and want people to be able to get married while experiencing minimal bigotry and homophobia.

You haven't heard? An Alabama judge wants to ban ALL marriages. I posted about it in the Alabama gay marriage thread.

[RosyDaisy]

CnD, take you homophobic beliefs and shove 'em up your ass! You're still addicted to the VF kool-aid whether you want to believe and admit it or not. So fuck you. I'm sick of being tolerant to fundies like you.

[DGayle]

The gloating on this makes me sick. If some "gay" person knows I'm a Christian and wants to not sell me flowers, I would just find another flower shop where they don't know me and buy them. I don't need to get in their face about my beliefs. It's annoying that you can be forced to do something you don't want to have anything to do with. Me? I'd sell to them anyway because I don't particularly feel that not selling to them is going to hurt me.

How would you feel if this was applied differently? What if some dude accused of manslaughter wanted to buy a gun and a gun store owner felt it was his responsibility to not sell to him because he thought he might use it the wrong way? I believe this is a double-standard.

A murderer likely wouldn't pass a background check with an accusation of murder on his record. This is also a strawman because how is a cake going to hurt anyone? By making then fat if they eat all cake everyday? Misusing a gun is deadly. Not the same thing at all.

If someone was denied service based on being a Christian, that company would face charges since religion is protected.

If a Christian wanted to deny service to black people because of biblical slavery, do you really think that should be allowed? Owning a business isn't a protected right.

[CloakNDagger]

Then do tell, Cloak, what was the reason for putting the word gay in quotes? A straight answer will do, not some cryptic bullshit non-answer. Thanks.

Because I think it's a stupid way to refer to them. It's a deliberate takeover of a word meaning happy and the "gay" people I know are definitively not that so much. In fact they are often on a warpath against people who sell flowers and disagree with them, or something.

There are a couple of gay people I know that just mind their own business and don't act like they are different or special, etc... And they are just fine to get along with. We respect each other and they don't try to force me to agree with them, OR visa versa.

[whoviana]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :roll: :doh:

[CloakNDagger]

A murderer likely wouldn't pass a background check with an accusation of murder on his record. This is also a strawman because how is a cake going to hurt anyone? By making then fat if they eat all cake everyday? Misusing a gun is deadly. Not the same thing at all.

If someone was denied service based on being a Christian, that company would face charges since religion is protected.

If a Christian wanted to deny service to black people because of biblical slavery, do you really think that should be allowed? Owning a business isn't a protected right.

Not a convicted murderer, someone like OJ that got away with it... Or like that guy down in Florida.

It's not a straw man. If VF were still in business and some VF dude figured out who you were and made a point to come to your store and buy something loudly proclaiming that it was going to be used at VF for "God's work" I believe you should have the right to deny him that service if it bothers you. My free exercise of religion is protected, but not if I claim my religion allows me to murder all infidels... And I go kill someone. Also, your not selling me flowers is not a restriction on my religion unless you are a monopoly and the government is preventing you from selling to me an item used in my religion by it's regulation, or deliberately enabling your prevention.

I don't believe man stealing, or racial slavery is Biblical, so no I would be angry with any Christian denying service to a black person.

And owning a business isn't a protected right? Maybe not, but the ability to earn a livelihood should be, and if no one will hire you, it should not be in the power of government to force you to starve if you cannot be hired or if you desire to work for yourself...

[whoviana]

[ShesCrafty]

Because I think it's a stupid way to refer to them. It's a deliberate takeover of a word meaning happy and the "gay" people I know are definitively not that so much. In fact they are often on a warpath against people who sell flowers and disagree with them, or something.

There are a couple of gay people I know that just mind their own business and don't act like they are different or special, etc... And they are just fine to get along with. We respect each other and they don't try to force me to agree with them, OR visa versa.

We obviously have very different ideas of what the word respect means. And like I said, your homophobia, coming through. Loud and clear. It's no wonder the "gay" people you know are not happy when they are around you. After reading your posts, I don't think I'd be all sunshine and unicorns if I had to spend anytime around you either. I don't much enjoy hanging around bigots.