Posted on 07/13/2015 6:34:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For years, the LGBT movement has claimed its goal is tolerance — for society and the government to consider same-sex sexual relationships equal to those between men and women, even though research, science, and nature show this equality does not exist.
In the 16 days since the U.S. Supreme Court decided to undefine marriage, that factually-challenged talking point has been all but forgotten in the rush to further change marriage, strip churches of their non-profit statuses, and punish those who refuse to bow to the new order.
Of course, liberals must still pretend their goal is so-called “equality,” not the state-sanctioned punishment of free speech, and other human rights such as religious liberty. Which brings us to the liberal blogs Raw Story and The New Civil Rights Movement (TNCRM), the administrative law judge who levied a $135,000 fine against the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon, and the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), whose top person appointed the judge to oversee the case.
Judge Alan McCullough
Earlier this month, McCullough ruled that Aaron and Melissa Klein owed a lesbian couple $135,000 for citing Christian beliefs on marriage in choosing to not baking a cake for the couple’s “wedding.” According to McCullough, the Kleins committed the crime of religious expression for not serving the couple because of sexual orientation.
However, this is not what happened. What the Kleins did was deny service based upon a chosen relationship and a chosen ceremony. Neither of these has anything to do with sexual orientation or attraction.
Alas, according to McCullough and BOLI, such an expression of belief is illegal for business owners in Oregon when it comes to same-sex couples. This state-sanctioned prejudice against Christians, ironically called a “non-discrimination” law.
Almost as disturbing as the law and its enforcement is how one of the lesbians was awarded $15,000 less than the other — $60,000 compared to $75,000 — because she was found to have lied about some things and exaggerated others. Yet McCullough still found her worthy of $60,000 of the Kleins’ hard-earned money.
Raw Story
In a blaring headline, Raw Story claims that “Oregon bakers forced to pay $135,000 after sharing lesbian couple’s home address,” and in its original story, expanded upon the claim that the Kleins were punished for sharing the lesbian couple’s address online. Furthermore, Raw Story said that the Kleins were punished for alleged emotional damage related to media exposure to the lesbian couple.
To its credit, Raw Story updated its article to note Eugene Volokh’s excellent analysis showing how its analysis was wrong. However, the factually incorrect headline remains the same — which means Raw Story is sending its readers down the wrong path right from the start, and the tone of the article could easily lead readers to an incorrect conclusion about why the fine was ordered.
The New Civil Rights Movement
Like Raw Story, TNCRM acknowledged Volokh’s point — but also like its liberal ally, the site shoehorned some false information into the mix. Specifically, TNCRM’s Brint Crockett stated that “a portion of those emotional damages resulted from the Kleins’ public statements and actions in response to receiving the complaint.”
This is false. The decision shows that while BOLI sought damages related to media exposure and the lesbian couple’s address being posted online, McCullough rejected damages related to media exposure.
In a Twitter exchange, TNCRM founder David Badash defended Crockett’s article, stating that “we read the entire 122 page final finding of facts.” Badash also said that “Klein posted the discrimination complaint on Facebook with the couple’s name & address. I think had a lot to do with it,” which, again, is totally at odds with McCullough’s ruling.
Because at @newcivilrights we read the entire 122 page final finding of facts. It’s called reporting & journalism. https://t.co/7ZlXdN6Pjk
— David Badash (@davidbadash) July 10, 2015
Other bits of misleading bias were sneaked into Crockett’s story. In a section designed to evoke sympathy for the lesbian couple who decided to use the tyranny of big government against a Mom-and-Pop bakery, the TNCRM story claimed that “All they’d done was file a discrimination complaint. That’s all.”
Additionally, according to TNCRM, “Bowman & Cryer remained so humbly quiet, concerned with their relationship and family.” I would also be “so humbly quiet” if I knew the mighty arm of government would take my side to distort an unjust, unjustly applied law.
Lastly, Crockett keyed into BOLI and McCullough’s ridiculous assertion that denying service because of a chosen relationship and a chosen ceremony is the same as denying service over attraction or orientation:
BOLI’s order finds no difference between being a homosexual and being a to-be-wed homosexual wedding-cake customer. That seems obvious, but it’s logic lost upon the Kleins. After all, they served the Bowman-Cryer’s before the couple became engaged, and discriminated against them only after learning of the couple’s engagement.
In fact, Crockett’s points prove that the Kleins handled this as Christians should. They showed no discrimination against people, but instead, against relationships that explicitly contradict the Will of God. Akin to Christ’s treatment of the adulterer, they recognized that all people deserve to be treated as children of God even as spiritually, physically, and socially harmful behaviors should be discouraged.
Like Raw Story, TNCRM needs to radically change a solid portion of its story in order to stop misinformation from being spread.
The Bureau of Labor and Industries
In a press release announcing McCullough’s decision, BOLI said the awarded damages were “related to the harm suffered by the Complainants, not fines or civil penalties which are punitive in nature.”
I did not have a chance to reach out to BOLI for comment, as I only began my research for this post on Friday afternoon. But it is rather absurd for BOLI to deny that financial punishments — related to violating a state law that BOLI was enforcing — are “fines or civil penalties, which are punitive in nature.”
Perhaps one of the lawyers in the comments can help me out with this one?
The real story: BOLI (and liberals) want to silence opposition
Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky summarized the issue pretty well in a statement e-mailed to me yesterday:
Commissar Avakian is forcing the Kleins to pay $135,000 for the supposed “emotional harm” the lesbian couple suffered from the Kleins simply telling them they did want to participate in their wedding ceremony by baking a cake – for “denial of service.” This despite the fact that the couple almost immediately got another baker to agree to provide them with a cake. He has also imposed a gag order on them because he was apparently angry that the Kleins were defending themselves in the media.
Apparently when you are persecuted by the government, he thinks you should not be able to speak up. Fortunately, we are not the type of banana republic Avakian wants to turn us into.
I learned a new word out of this one. As soon as the false stories about the Kleins came out (on a lesbian atheist blog), a liberal FB friend started crowing that the Christians had really been punished for DOXXING. I was impressed he knew that word, which I had not heard. Then I realized it was just a new leftist talking point—or, rather, a new leftist lie.
And it's working.
“Doxxing”? Never heard it either...
dox
däks/
verbinformal
gerund or present participle: doxxing
search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.
Any Oath Keepers ready to “raise the black flag”?
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats. H. L. Mencken
Only if they can bring trunkloads of t-shirts, ball caps and membership forms.
Otherwise Oathkeepers LLC won’t get onvolved...
And THAT explains that - I read a similar social media meme about that - trying to lay the blame on the accused rather than the dykes.
The Militant Gays have the momentum now and are using it to promote their hatred and bigotry on straight Christians. But straight Christians knew this would happen, it’s been written years ago it would happen. We are not surprised by this. What we are surprised by is the amount of people who support sexual immorality over morality. That is mind boggling. How did we shift so fast from morality to immorality, and how can a president tell the people that homosexuality is moral and those who oppose it are immoral? And how do people follow that kind of logic without question? Is the great delusion happening now?
CS Lewis stated that the word “equality” was the most dangerous word ever since it can “sound” like something “GOOD”.
It is used in that Marxist sense which strips it of meaning-—treats unequal people as “equal” in areas where it can never be so. People have to be treated equally under the law, but that is where “equality” ends. All people are unique and special in areas—where they surpass others.
Males and females (in a RATIONAL world) can NEVER be treated as the “same”——they are not. Science proves it. They have different needs in a civil society and one which eliminates uniqueness becomes tyrannical and destroys efficiency and Reason in children.
It creates a world where everyone has to be forced into being exactly the same—no difference-—and all interchangeable. (Tyranny—absolutely NO Freedom).
It strips individualism, identity and uniqueness from people (inhumane) and all that which allows for Freedom. Mass conformity is Marxism-—and it is to remove God and Identity from everyone-—to reduce human beings to drones for the “State” and “happy” slavery. (As Fichte stated in 1810-—the meaning of “happy” is such that the people are incapable of “choice” or critical thinking-—because all information (and history) has been totally controlled so people are DUMB and remain ignorant. There is no ability to use reason-—”snow is actually black”.
Get your children OUT of public indoctrination (Lies) system where they use operant conditioning to direct the desires and emotions to “group think” which embeds irrational emotions to concepts (Capitalism/Christianity is evil) -—which destroys the ability to “think” in the Classical way which created the most Free country in the world.
Marxism has to kill God-—destroy Christian worldview which is about unique, individual Natural Rights from God (Rule of Law)-—never the State (Rule of Man/oligarchy/SCOTUS).
The Bible is clear that Evil will be Good and Good, Evil.
They have accomplished the flipping of 2000 years of ethics by removing children from the Natural Family and Common Sense (with John Dewey and State controlled mandatory “education”) and destroying Reason in these mass indoctrination systems. which are embedding “group think” and lies, so that children are incapable of critical thinking and removed from Real Life experiences with moral people, put into artificial institutions (dehumanization and trapped to embed dependency) -—like the tribal minds of Afghani harem boys.
Children who grow up in toxic cultures (filled with lies and Evil is Good) are incapable of morality or thinking in the Classical way-—which created the Age of Reason and Modern Science. Christianity is the only reasoned religion which is based on Natural Laws (God’s Works). All other satanic religions where sodomy is “good”-—are irrational and removed from Natural Law.
SCOTUS and the homosexuals are actually forcing the religion of Ba’al Worship (or Satanism) onto our culture/children today. It is not unlike the Weimar Republic.
It is documented by Hari and Lively that all fascist movements were founded by homosexuals. All homosexual cultures were the most brutal and sexist—like the Samurai and Spartans and today’s Afghani. All homosexual cultures groom and train the boys; pederasty is always a part of the “training”. All homosexuals were abused and/or neglected in childhood....all were traumatized which destroys the ability to empathize———they habituate doing evil, vile things to others and get arousals over unnatural, irrational “things” or objects which are dehumanizing-—it habituates dehumanizing mindset.
It is why homosexuals like the NAZI SA or unchristian Soviet army had no trouble with killing all people—even little children and women. Homosexuals don’t have any love for children or women-—their sick sexual obsessions (irrational) destroys the ability for Reason and morality is eliminated by habituation.
The term Fr. Oko used is the best when he used the word in describing the homosexual’s infiltration of the Catholic seminaries-—Homofascists. They can’t control their base impulses and rape is much higher for homosexuals-—and is why the English navy killed the rapists on their ships. Death penalty was the only method of controlling homosexuals rapes and pederasty. It is why sodomy was a felony for millennia. The sex drive is strong in males and when aberrant-—it is sick and evil.
Why are you using the jargon of perverts to describe NORMAL Christians.
Once the queers established the language by labeling themselves “gay” they were well on the road to winning the battle for the coprophiliacs and lesbians. Normal, not straight, people joined their cause, unknowingly, by using the language queers established to downplay their mental illness. The first step to regaining control is to STOP using their language and call them what they are and describing them for what they do.
Gay’s, ALL of them hate, HATE what they are and there is not one of them who would if they could become normal.
This self hatred explains their aggression towards heterosexuals.
Because millions of Apostate (or unbelieving) Christians view homosexuality as “God’s Will” and that we should embrace them and allow them to marry, and adopt, and all this because God made them that way. When the Episcopal Church allowed homosexual pastors and lay people, that denomination ceased to be part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Many other denominations have allowed this also, which means they have no fear of the Lord, and do not believe God’s word as the truth.
Why again are they churches?
Avakian cites the persecution of his Armenian ancestors as his motivation for pushing “gay rights”.
However, the Turks persecuted the Armenians for being Christians, just as Avakian is now doing to the Kleins!!!!
Has anyone questioned Commissar Avakian’s sexual orientation?
Just curious...
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