Arkansas’s leading gay hate group, the Family Council, announces it will hold a rally in Fayetteville at 7 p.m. Tuesday at University Baptist Church in Fayetteville to oppose the non-discrimination ordinance being sent to city voters in September.

Cox believes it is a religious right to discriminate against gay people in employment, housing and public accommodation, which the ordinance discourages

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To that end, he’s bringing in the stars of the No Cakes for Queers movement, Aaron and Melissa Klein of Oregon, who were fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding and closed their Sweet Cakes.

Do not be misled by this case. Oregon has a state civil rights law that prohibits discrimination in public accommodations — restaurants and bakeries included — on account of race, gender, etc., that etc. including sexual orientation. The Sweet Cakes people refused to comply with the law. They were assessed damages as the law provides, not a fine, just as a McDonald’s would have been assessed damages for refusing to serve a black person. Their religion was not infringed, any more than those who believe black people are subhuman have been religiously infringed when made to rent them a hotel room or serve them a piece of pie. Baking a cake is not a religious act. Religion isn’t burdened by baking one.

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You can find here some links to full explanations of the Oregon case, along with some myth-busting of falsehoods propagated by Fox News and haters akin to Jerry Cox. Snopes, for one, has this explanation.

Violation of the Fayetteville ordinance doesn’t rise to the level of even a misdemeanor. Complaints are settled, first, by attempts at mediation. If that fails, a Civil Rights Commission can assess a $100 fine for a first violation and then fines allowed in the city code.

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This couldn’t be simpler. Jerry Cox thinks a McDonald’s should be able to refuse to sell a hamburger to a gay person. What would Jesus do? I’m not too sure He’d be too concerned either about the bathroom red herring, but I haven’t searched Leviticus on that one.

I wonder if the Lewises  are being paid beyond expense reimbursement to be symbols for legal discrimination against gay people.

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