Indiana: One-way tolerance isn’t tolerance at all

George Stephanopoulos felt like he had Indiana Governor Mike Pence in a corner when he asked him flatly, “And so yes or no, if a florist in Indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in Indiana?”

I would have responded with a turnabout question, “Should it be legal in the United States to boycott people and attempt to drive them out of business simply because of their belief in traditional marriage?”

Don’t you find it interesting that the first question is such a hot item but the second question, which is more critical than the first, isn’t asked?

If a religious couple operates a catering business, should they be forced to help a gay couple celebrate their wedding if they find same-sex marriage morally repugnant? It’s not like there aren’t plenty of caterers available. And why would the gay couple select this caterer? I don’t believe the gay couple would really be damaged in this situation. But to be on the brunt of a boycott is a rather serious matter, as it can potentially destroy your livelihood. Why are the establishment media so sensitive about the one and so insensitive about the other?

Religious and conservative people need to get a little bit of a backbone here and stand up and defend their rights, because they are being steamrolled.

As a religious conservative, here’s how I would have answered George Stephanopoulos:

I believe we should all try to get along, and I try to avoid compulsion whenever possible. Compulsion can get really ugly in a society and can end up tearing it apart. So I would like to give people the right, if they find same-sex marriage morally repugnant, to opt out of participating. I don’t know why the same-sex couple would want to go to such a caterer in the first place. I think we should try to ratchet back the rhetoric on both sides and just try to get along. There is this impulse among some in the gay community, not all, but among a small minority, to try to force everyone to celebrate with them. I think they should leave people alone if they disagree and let them go their way, and all try to get along.

We had a similar battle here in Arizona, and those who claimed they were for traditional marriage backed down and the religious freedom bill died. It was curious that right around that time we had a blatant act of discrimination that went largely unnoticed: The hairdresser for Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico refused to serve her any more. Why? Because she voiced a belief in traditional marriage. The hairdresser was not asked to participate in a traditional wedding – he was merely asked to cut the hair of a religious person and he refused. I would like to ask George Stephanopoulos if he thinks that should be legal?

There is a cultural war here. The radical gay rights advocates are winning, and rather than being gracious about it, they want to stuff it down the throats of everyone. They will protest any religious liberty law that permits anyone to opt out of celebrating same-sex marriage. They want it taught in the schools, enshrined in our laws, and they want anyone who would speak up against it to be silenced. We have to start learning how to stand up to this, or it’s going to get really ugly.


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About mesasmiles

By Dr. David Hall. Dr. Hall runs Infinity Dental Web, a small company that does Internet marketing for dentists. He has had a long-standing interest in politics and as a college student toyed with the idea of a political career.
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