GoFundMe needs a little of the old Ultra Violence.Why should they have the right to refuse a customer?
Posted on 05/01/2015 2:17:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The new policy is phrased neutrally, as a ban on donations for anyone formally accused of “discriminatory acts,” but it’s obvious who the target is. Last week they shut down fundraising pages for Sweet Cakes by Melissa and Arlene’s Flowers, two Christian-owned businesses facing discrimination charges for declining to provide services to same-sex weddings, and caught hell for it from conservatives online. With good reason. Until this week, GoFundMe banned fundraising “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts,” but Sweet Cakes and Arlene’s Flowers weren’t accused of crimes. They were accused of violating civil antidiscrimination statutes. Even if they had been accused of crimes, only a truly lunatic supporter of gay marriage would treat politely refusing to bake a wedding cake as on par with the sort of crimes people typically think of as “heinous.”
So GoFundMe had a dilemma. It could either violate its own policy by keeping Sweet Cakes and Arlene’s Flowers off the site despite the fact that no crime had been committed, or it could reinstate the fundraising pages for those businesses and piss off fanatic, boycott-ready gay-rights activists. In the end, they made the smart business decision by finding a third way. They’d change their policy in the name of keeping those pages offline, knowing that it’s safer for a company to cross social conservatives than to cross the left and their media allies on gay issues.
The previous policy barred “Campaigns in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.” The new policy bans “Campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts.”…
“GoFundMe may want to appear as if it has a neutral policy prohibiting funds from being raised for certain activities,” said Mr. Weber in an email. “But it is apparent that GoFundMe is seeking to slap several words onto their ‘policy’ merely to cover up the reality that they actually dropped the Kleins’ page [for Sweet Cakes by Melissa] because they were scared of cranky LGBT activists.”
Kristen Waggoner, the Alliance Defending Freedom attorney representing Arlene’s Flowers, said in an interview Tuesday that GoFundMe’s decision to drop the page, even though Ms. Stutzman has not been charged with a crime, raises questions as to whether GoFundMe is discriminating on the basis of religion.
“We’re looking at legal options that she might have,” said Ms. Waggoner. “There have been other campaigns on GoFundMe that haven’t been shut down. To me, this may be discrimination based on religion.”
I think that’s more of a talking point than a legit legal claim in the works but it’s a clever tu quoque regardless. Anyway: Will GFM pay any price for this? A small one, maybe, as some religious/conservative charity steps into the fundraising breach the next time a Christian business owner is sued over gay wedding service. Samaritan’s Purse already has a leg up on the competition. To really punish GoFundMe, though, you’d need righties to refuse to use the site entirely, not just in the small universe of cases brought against religious business owners for discriminating against gays. How likely is that? A year after a nascent conservative boycott of Mozilla over Brendan Eich being forced out for his position on SSM, has Mozilla’s business been damaged?
Incidentally, with Sweet Cakes having gone out of business in protest of being forced to participate in gay weddings, the Kleins are facing a mind-boggling $135,000 fine and trying to feed their five kids on a garbage collector’s salary. Maybe they’ll end up living on the street. That’ll show ‘em for being so “hateful.” In lieu of an exit question, and presented without comment, enjoy this man-on-the-street episode from the Daily Signal.
So, if a religious baker sues GoFundMe because of discrimination, will he win in court?
But the ban is a discriminatory act!
I am not as forgiving as the bakery people I would go scorched earth on homos and lawyers.
I think we should start a GoFundMe campaign to fund the hostile takeover of GoFundMe.
GoFundMe needs a little of the old Ultra Violence.Why should they have the right to refuse a customer?
Sounds like an opportunity for an alternative to gofundme if you ask me.
Look for a Christian version of a “GoFundMe” to be set up soon.
Take these morons down.
Social media is anything but social.
RE: But the ban is a discriminatory act!
That’s what I said. Christian Bakers should sue them for discrimination in court just like they were sued for not wanting to service gay weddings.
LOL, like hell it is. They banned Melissa's BEFORE they changed their policy. Changing their policy afterwards constitutes a de facto admittance that they know they were not supported by their own policy when they initiated the ban.
It's a slam-dunk win for Melissa's if they sue.
Just re-stating the obvious:
They never refused service to the couple (my recollection of what I read); they refused to support the activity for which they were seeking service (the wedding) and declined to cater.
HUGE distinction. They should not have been found liable of discrimination and, IMHO, this should be challenged. If so, it will be overturned.
As I’ve written prior, denying services for things an owner believes strongly has been going on for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It’s just done with a bit for subtlety.
IMHO they were set up and, unfortunately, fell right into the trap.
If I were rich I’d write the owners a check to pay the damned fine. I hope they get it covered with donations. I have a feeling their business will do quite well once they’re past this (HOW MANY churches & supportive organizations in Portland??? Enough.).
RE: If I were rich I’d write the owners a check to pay the damned fine.
Two flies in the ointment:
1) Some business owners REFUSE to pay the fine ( as in the 70 year old grandmother who owns Arlene’s Flowers ). They want to fight it all the way up the Surpreme Court.
2) If you do help to pay the fine by writing a check, be sure to calculate and include GIFT taxes...
What a great question. I hope this becomes part of the subsequent commentaries about this website as the move to find other sources for charitable support helps drive these bigots out of business.
True enough. Just like Tolerance isn't so tolerant.
They will be bankrupt and close within three months. While we don’t make a lot of noise (we are too busy working), we have the cash.
Idiots.
So how do we start a conservative crowd sourcing site??
Forgot to mention:
If I were rich and did that, I’d also throw one helluva block party for supporters, catered by Sweet Cakes, of course, at obscene margins. They could pay their own tax.
Might as well get them some good advertising out of it, as opposed to just writing them a check for the taxes...
But I’m not rich, nor flush. I hope someone steps up. Having to do a fundraiser is, imho, an absolutely pathetic statement on Conservatives.
A scene from ‘It Can Happen to You’ comes to mind...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.