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Gov to Ministers: Marry Gays or Go to Jail
FrontPage Mag ^ | 10/20/2014 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 10/20/2014 8:03:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

…and the distinction between gay rights and religious persecution just vanished. It begins with equality and ends with everyone losing their freedom.

But I love all these new freedoms we’re getting. We now have the freedom to do what various pressure groups want or go to jail. I hope we don’t get too many more new freedoms or we’ll run out of jail cells.

Officials in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, are threatening an elderly couple who run a wedding chapel with jail time unless they perform wedding ceremonies for gay couples.

Donald Knapp and his wife, Evelyn, both ordained ministers who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel, have declined to host gay weddings based on their religious beliefs. The city is basing its claims on their “non-discrimination” statute now that the courts have cleared the way for same sex marriages in the state.

If a wedding chapel and its minister are a “public accommodation”, then the First Amendment just went up in smoke, which it was always bound to. Too many “conservatives” have the fanciful notion that the left can be compromised or that it will stop at some apparent to them “reasonable point”.

History shows that the left does not stop. It keeps going. It takes everything you have and then it puts you up against a wall.

“By declining to perform same-sex ceremonies and face up to 180 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines. Worse, each day the Knapps decline to perform a requested same-sex wedding ceremony, they commit a separate and distinct misdemeanor, subject to the same penalties. Thus, if the Knapps decline a same-sex wedding ceremony for just one week, they risk going to jail for over 3 years and being fined $7,000. For the past several months, the City has privately and publicly threatened to apply Ordinance §9.56 to the Knapps if same-sex marriage became legal in Idaho and the Knapps declined to perform a same-sex wedding ceremony at The Hitching Post Wedding Chapel.”

The left will now pretend to distinguish so-called for-profit wedding chapels, but again it’s a meaningless distinction. It’s more onion-slicing. The endgame will hit every chapel and every church and synagogue and house of worship.

Because the left does not stop.

These are the same people who illegally leaked donor lists and got a man fired from his job because he donated to a group opposed to gay marriage. We’re not dealing with people who want equality. We are dealing with fascists. They will never stop on their own.

 


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Idaho
KEYWORDS: coeurdalene; firstamendment; gaymarriage; homosexualagenda; idaho; ssm; ssmministers
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1 posted on 10/20/2014 8:03:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

2 posted on 10/20/2014 8:05:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: SeekAndFind

How about a private ceremony chapel??


3 posted on 10/20/2014 8:06:12 AM PDT by Hattie
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To: SeekAndFind
Sounds like if they want to perform marriages they will have to go underground to do it.

I have wondered when we would repeat Henry VIII's and Elizabeth's England.

4 posted on 10/20/2014 8:06:30 AM PDT by Slyfox (Satan's goal is to rub out the image of God he sees in the face of every human.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s getting worse, the devil is getting bolder. If America falls the world will see dark times.


5 posted on 10/20/2014 8:07:55 AM PDT by vpintheak (Keep calm and Rain Steel!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The only answer here is to immediately declare the wedding chapel to be a Church.


6 posted on 10/20/2014 8:07:59 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill)
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To: SeekAndFind

When the wheels finally come off I hope the homosexual community - and all the other pressure groups using the government to persecute those with whom they disagree - remember what they did to drive the majority to the extremes it will finally resort to.


7 posted on 10/20/2014 8:09:52 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: SeekAndFind

And, because of the way these fascist groups operate, the homosexual activists will target them to perform a homosexual wedding. And governmental officials will roll over, claim that they have to perform homosexual marriages, otherwise go out of business. That is the sad predictable fate of this Hitching Post chapel.

Unless they can somehow reincorporate as a private group or private club, that chapel can no longer be open to the public.

And the liberals look at people like this, and say that they are hateful bigots and all that. The liberals are overplaying their hand, in my opinion, and causing a lot of collateral damage along the way.


8 posted on 10/20/2014 8:10:17 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego (s)
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To: SeekAndFind

“we don’t sell homosexual wedding ceremonies here. Try the store down the road.”


9 posted on 10/20/2014 8:12:14 AM PDT by petitfour
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To: SeekAndFind

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.


10 posted on 10/20/2014 8:12:41 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: SeekAndFind

So what about marriages to farm animals and kitchen appliances?


11 posted on 10/20/2014 8:13:12 AM PDT by LucianOfSamasota (Tanstaafl - its not just for breakfast anymore...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Until We The remaining People squash the nazi “officials” this will just keep happening.

Tar and feathers, run out of town on a rail, put in stocks, etc was the old way.

These nazi officials are probably Nazis who moved to Idaho from California. They ruined Colorado too.


12 posted on 10/20/2014 8:14:12 AM PDT by TheConservativeParty (Impeach him before he kills us all.)
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To: SeekAndFind

We are in a life and death struggle. Taking away someone’s liberty and livelihood is no different than a death sentence or imprisonment in a death camp. If good people fail to comprehend this basic truth, we will all be murdered by the forces of evil.


13 posted on 10/20/2014 8:16:45 AM PDT by trubolotta
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s time.


14 posted on 10/20/2014 8:16:53 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: rockrr

RE: It’s time.

For what?


15 posted on 10/20/2014 8:18:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Separation of Church and State
Intimidation of Church by State
Administration of Church by State
Elimination of Church by State.
16 posted on 10/20/2014 8:19:03 AM PDT by SparkyBass
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To: SeekAndFind

"BRAVO!"


17 posted on 10/20/2014 8:20:40 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Conservatism is the political disposition of grown-ups.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Is the city hanging their hat on the fact that they are a for profit company that trades on their status as government agents? Just asking. Seems like that point could be clearer if that’s the case.


18 posted on 10/20/2014 8:21:14 AM PDT by Poison Pill
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To: SeekAndFind
Why don't they just rename it the "Heterosexual Hitching Post" and offer an exclusive service for Heterosexuals............oh, how could I forget, only Queers are special.
19 posted on 10/20/2014 8:25:49 AM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: SeekAndFind

All they have to do is declare the Hitching Post a church!!


20 posted on 10/20/2014 8:27:42 AM PDT by ontap
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