Hardware Stores Enter Politics, Turning Away Gays, Turning Away Evangelicals

Why can't retail businesses just do what they are supposed to do: sell stuff to people that want to buy stuff. Keep politics out of it. Sell to anyone whose money is green.

A hardware store in Tennessee first put up a sign telling gays that they weren't allowed, then took that sign down and put up a weasel-worded sign telling evangelicals that they weren't welcome.

The first sign was pretty blunt, "No Gays Allowed." Not subtle, but gays would just find another place to shop. The new sign is: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion." That sign is intended to keep radical fundamentalist evangelicals out of his store.

I work in San Francisco. I routinely see evangelicals trying to push their beliefs and religion onto others. Conversely, there are a lot of gays in San Francisco but they don't harass people and try to convince them to become gay.

If the owner doesn't want gays in his store then he should have kept the original sign. Gays would just go to another store. Now he is offending evangelicals who pride themselves on violating other people's freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Reply to
sms
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I don't see how that could be interpreted as intending to apply to Christian evangelicals, unless they said something more. It looks almost certainly targeted at gays following the SC decision. They just took down the more blatant one and replaced it with this more subtle one.

More likely the gays would be going to court to force him to take it down. So it's OK to offend gays, but not OK to offend evangelicals? Go figure. Inquiring minds want to know how it affects his business or him personally if either come into his stores. How would he even know if someone is gay, an evangelical or anything else?

Reply to
trader_4

Here's how I think all this should be handled. If you want to put those kinds of signs at your business, then I think it should be your right. It's your business. That includes putting up a sign that blacks aren't welcome, if you choose. Let the free market solve it. Any store that puts up such signs can expect to lose a lot of business. I wouldn't patronize a business that put up any of those kinds of signs, nor would the majority of people. The business can also expect protesters, lots of negative press, disrupting their business.

It's a different situation today than 50 years ago when you had widespread discrimination against blacks and in the Jim Crow south you had most places discriminating. Then I can see a justification for requiring businesses to serve everyone. Today, the situation has totally changed. If allowed to discriminate, very few businesses are going to be dumb enough to do it and those that are will be ostracized.

Reply to
trader_4

Bull Shit! The second sign is intended to keep Democrats out. They are the ones that constantly want to violate the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion for anyone that disagrees with them.

Reply to
Gordon Shumway

how is this store owner going to determine who is gay? of course gays could shop elsewhere, but a better solution is to shop for LOTs of stuff, bring it to the cashier, let them ring it up and then announce "what is the gay discount here". smother the shop in business that generates no income

or

just wander the store and when Pastor John enters and shops ask him loudly if his AIDs treatments are working

Reply to
Malcom Mal Reynolds

or why not just do as the sign says - allow gays that don't try to ram stuff down everyone's throat.

Reply to
taxed and spent

Two gays buying a cake, or buying roofing paper, or a hammer, are not violating anyone's freedom of speech or freedom of religion. But the store owner is entirely within his rights to not sell to gays since there is no law in Tennessee that forbids that type of discrimination.

But there _are_ laws preventing discrimination based on religion and his new sign comes close to this type of discrimination. The new sign is offensive to those people who routinely annoy others, trying to convert them to their own belief system, like the owner of the store.

Reply to
sms

How bout those bible-thumpin republicans that want to eliminate your right to an abortion?

Reply to
Sum Ting-Wong

Do you mean "How bout those bible-thumpin republicans that want to eliminate your right to murder?"

Reply to
Gordon Shumway

Paul Harvey talked about "abortion after the fact". Unwanted baby was born, but neglected by parent(s) and thus suffers and dies.

Let's start with better sex education.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Maybe it'd be easier to empty the ocean?

Reply to
Muggles

I do wonder what donald trump would put on every door to his empire??

no hispanics, no illegals, no blacks, nogays???

donald the idiot is a outed bigot. probably bigoted to everyone.............

Reply to
bob haller

I thought that was what those pedophile priests did

Reply to
Malcom Mal Reynolds

so you hate republicans?

Reply to
Malcom Mal Reynolds

It doesn't take a political label to be guilty of playing God.

Reply to
Muggles

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