In 2015 the gay marriage was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, in 2018 the Court also added that the people have the right to oppose it. Since then, people were encouraged, or empowered, to oppose that given right.
One such example was the baker’s case in Colorado. A gay couple wanted to order a wedding cake from the Baker, but he actually turned them down. The case ended up in court. During the proceeding, the baker cited his Christian beliefs and pointed them out as a reason for the opposition. Therefore, the court ruled 7-2 in favour of the baker.
“The laws and the Constitution can, and in some instances must, protect gay persons and gay couples in the exercise of their civil rights,” the court found, “but religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage are protected views and in some instances protected forms of expression.”
Since then, bigots have been encouraged to refuse providing services to gay couples by relying on the ‘religious freedom’ right. Another such case, besides the baker’s one, is the Jeff Amyx, owner of Amyx Hardware and Roofing Supplies in Washburn, Tennessee.
In 2018, Amyx decided to put some anti-gay signs in his shop. He has put these: “No gays allowed,” “Choose god or gays,” and “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.” This was quickly spread virally and Amyx became a target of the Internet community who found these signs inappropriate.
The most important question regarding such cases is why people are losing potential profit and customers just to push their point of view?
Everyone who was angry by Amyx’s actions slammed his business on Yelp.
Google users when they review his business even categories his store as a gay bar.
However, after some time, Yelp decided to clean up the negative reviews.
“This business recently made waves in the news, which often means that people come to this page to post their views on the news,” Yelp said in a statement. “While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to these news events, we do work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer’s personal consumer experience with the business.”
On the other hand, Google did not do that. They are still listing his shop as a gay bar. In addition, the negative comments have not been removed.
People should understand that we are equal and we have equal rights. Since religious groups have the right to practice their religions freely, why shouldn’t homosexual people enjoy their rights and feel the benefits of the country they live in? It turns out that the country has yet to empower its laws and protect people’s rights.