On Friday, October 10, in a move that many would characterize as the epitome of tolerance, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision to allow to stand a ruling by a lower court invalidating Idaho’s ban on same sex marriage. On October 15, as a result of that ruling, same sex marriage became legal in Idaho.
Ever since I began writing about gay marriage on this blog, back in August 2010, I have been warning that this issue is not about tolerance but about gay activists wanting to force others to condone their relationships. And while gay marriage has been defeated in ballot initiative after ballot initiative, it has been rammed down our throats by the courts. The tolerant policy would be, “Okay, you call it marriage if you want, you live the way you want to, but don’t force me to call it marriage.” See all my posts tagged the intolerance of the gay rights movement. But gay activists are not preaching “live and let live,” but rather “wipe out homophobia!” as if disagreement with them were a disease.
So we have Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained Christian ministers who operate the Hitching Post wedding chapel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who made a public statement opposing same sex marriage back in May. They told KXLY news, “I cannot unite people in a way that I believe would conflict with what the Bible teaches.” Then, two days after same sex marriage became legal in Idaho, a homosexual couple decided to push the matter. Rather than seek out someone who was sympathetic to them, they went looking for trouble and asked the Knapps to marry them.
I did a search in Google Maps in Coeur d’Alene for “wedding venues,” and Google delivered 237 results. Now not all of those are accurately identified by Google, but there are clearly many choices in Coeur d’Alene for weddings. I point this out to illustrate the way these people think. They don’t think “tolerance.” They think “in your face.” Coeur d’Alene has a city ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the Knapps have been told that their refusal to perform this wedding could result in jail time and a $1000 fine for each day that they refuse to perform the ceremony.
Now it looks like the city will try to wriggle out of this. The public outcry is intense. The Hitching Post has filed for a different type of license that would exempt them from the city ordinance. My point isn’t about the eventual outcome of this case–it is about the mindset of gay rights activists. They are in our faces, insisting that everyone condone their relationships.
It is not about tolerance. I’ve been saying that on this blog now for over four years. Their end game is not the legalization of their relationships, it’s about eliminating any voices that disapprove. And I will say it again–it’s going to get really ugly.
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