Not to defend queers in anyway, but, if after 9 years of serving this homosexual couple, wouldn’t it be somewhat natural for the homos to go to Arlene’s for the services they wanted for their marriage?
On the other hand, the queers should have respected her views and taken their business elsewhere.
Just say’n
It really is about respect in this case. Unfortunately gay “pride” took the higher hand in their heads, and off they went into the land of government-imposed opinions, beliefs, and practices.
Wild Guess: That might well have been Plan A, until one of them ventilated her perplexity and surprise to a movement gay who put her in touch with the Right People who knew how to administer a public beatdown .... er, "Teachable Moment".
Homosexual frothers have been threatening to "go back and affirmatively punish" anyone who had opposed them, for about 10 years now.
There can be no doubt now, that Movement Socialism/Liberalism is busting their move, to suppress completely American conservatism, received morality generally, and patriotism.
It was natural for them to go to her for their flowers. And the florist has written that it was a very hard decision for her that she needed to pray about, and that once she felt what she had to do, she sat down with him as a friend and tried to talk it over. He seemed to accept it, but then his boyfriend talked trash on social media and the Internet hysteria begain, impelling the gay couple to go to the Human Rights Commission. At that point, lawyers smelled blood in the water and the feeding frenzy began. The gay couple's only lawsuit was a nominal amount for having to drive their car to another florist (really!) and a little for damages. But the main lawsuits and persecutions against her now is from the bullies at the state and the state Human Rights Commission, who are trying to make her an example.
As anyone who has ever befriended GL people knows, once in awhile there comes a moment requiring tolerance from the GL person towards their Christian friend. It rarely results in their giving tolerance to their Christian friend, however.
I had a long business relationship with a company that was a good customer of mine, and the person they assigned to me to deal with was a gay woman. I listened to her tales of woe every couple of years as she took up with one woman after another and went through break-ups. She and I discussed my life as a Christian. But when I moved to another state and she wanted to bring her current partner and stay overnight on their way to another business meeting in my area, I had to say no, because I still had a child living at home. That broke the relationship, even though I would lose her recommendation or any future work. She just couldn't get over my "bigotry", even as I gently reminded her again the true meaning of "tolerance" and explained I wouldn't allow any unmarried couples, even straights. "But we can't get married" was her excuse then.
Now that they can get married, my position wouldn't change, and my reasoning now would be because of my own religious beliefs about what marriage is, and would seem even more hard-hearted to her. But it's my view that "as for my house, we will serve the Lord." It's better to offend a person than to offend God.
I should point out that after she left that organization and took a different government job, she made a point of only hiring gays and lesbians. So much for equal opportunity and tolerance.