Atheism news: "Christian" business owner Baronelle Stuzman still hasn't answered media questions after she blatantly violated Washington state law by discriminating against a same sex couple. As the owner of Arlene's Flowers, Baronelle had been selling items to the couple (and others) for a decade before finally telling one of the young men that "her relationship with Jesus Christ" prevented her from "doing their wedding." Never mind the fact that as a florist she is doing nothing more than selling arrangements any creative person could do with the flowers bought at a Michael's craft store, but she wasn't to perform any wedding. They were simply buying flowers. As of March 13, 2013, it's been revealed that a growing number of people are rallying a boycott against this woman's business.
The Facebook page "Boycott Arlene's Flowers - Richland, WA" has only 124 members currently, but the group is still growing and they certainly have my support, much like I support the group boycotting Sweet Cakes by Melissa for committing the same discriminatory violation of state laws. The activities shared by those boycotting this florist are updated on the page, and as recently as yesterday the moderators of the group are encouraging supporters to find out if there are any florists in the Richland area that will serve to homosexual couples unlike Arlene's Flowers.
As for the Arlene's Flowers Facebook page, 355 followers isn't exactly impressive and the comments on the page aren't necessarily supportive of Stuzman's decision to illegally discriminate against a same sex couple. Though the few who appear to be in support of the florist's display of what is being called "religious bigotry" have made comments that were reported for abuse and removed by Facebook. That's an interesting turn of events, but not at all surprising when it comes to dealing with zealotry and people who believe that other human beings don't deserve equal rights.
I have reached out to Barronelle Stuzman several times to no success, and the woman has not communicated with anyone asking questions on her Facebook page. However she posted this boilerplate response about what happened. As of right now (March 13, 2013) there are approximately 2,700 comments on the thread and the number is still increasing. Most of the comments are against the florist's decision to violate a clearly written discrimination law, while a few of the comments are in support of the woman's choice.
Do you think religious bigotry is something that should be tolerated in the United States? If so, what would have happened of the other moments in the civil rights movement? Wasn't the freedom and equality of women at one point a religious battle? What about the religious elements of the negative mark left on U.S. history by slavery? It seems that no good comes from disenfranchising entire groups of people, but what about when it's a religious group doing it? When does this behavior become acceptable and when is it not? Hopefully the Supreme Court of the United States addresses homosexual rights in way to put a stop to this behavior -- and soon.
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