Tuesday, February 26, 2019

You want to refuse services to the LGBTQ community? Fine. Just own your bigotry with a sign.






You want to refuse services to the LGBTQ community? Fine. Just own your bigotry by placing a sign up so we don't have to be humiliated.

There are incidents sprouting up here and there of businesses refusing certain services or any services at all to members of the LGBTQ community because of the so-called concept of "religious liberty." I don't agree with this because discrimination is awful and there is the slippery slope which comes into play. You weaponize religion to refuse to serve the LGBTQ community in one area, then were is the line drawn?

But if people are so all fired up and determined to do this, then I think they should take it a step further. In all of these situations, the refusal happens after members of the LGBTQ community either inquires or has made an agreement with the business. In the latter case, the agreement is always broken by the business after the owners find out that the potential customers are LGBTQ.

I say we stop making it so complicated. If any business doesn't to serve the LGBTQ community in any capacity, why not say so beforehand? Put a sign outside the window of your business. I have posted a few suggestions above. You say that the LGBTQ community should respect your rights and opinions.  You say we should show "tolerance" for your religious beliefs. That's fine. Then respect our dignity as consumers. Why should we walk into your businesses and be humiliated. Why not eliminate that problem off the bat with a sign letting us know that our money isn't welcome?

Or could it be that the goal isn't to preserve your religious beliefs, but rather to humiliate us. Fill us with shame or worse, so much dread that we fear the anticipation of going into any business for fear of being embarrassed because we would be turned away. And this embarrassment goes deeper if we are accompanied by our friends, our prospective partner, our parents, or especially our children.

So why don't you accommodate us like you want us to accommodate you.

Or, as I asked before, is the so-called preservation of your religious beliefs really your goal? Seriously how hard can it be? It's not like it hasn't been done before: