According to the Seattle PI, State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed suit against Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts after owner Barronelle Stutzman declined to supply flowers to a homosexual couple’s wedding. Now, while the radical Left is screaming “discrimination,” “bigotry,” and “hatred,” it is important to note that Stutzman never denied service due to discrimination based on Richard Ingersoll and Curt Freed’s “sexual orientation.” In fact, the two men were pleased with Stutzman’s services, as they were repeat customers for nearly ten years.
No screaming matches or harassing phone calls or e-mails transpired when Stutzman declined to service Ingersoll and Freed’s event. Reportedly, Stutzman recalled, “He (Ingersoll) said he decided to get married, and before he got through, I grabbed his hand and said, ‘I am sorry. I can’t do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.’ We hugged each other and he left, and I assumed it was the end of the story.”
Peace, love, and civility, as it should be. Live and let live, as it should be. In the example of Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz, “It’s a free country.” What’s the problem? You can buy flowers somewhere else, right? But the options — or opinions — of the Looney Left aren’t available to conservatives, apparently.
Ironically, the same liberal thinkers who infused my college experience with the important lesson of small business owners unquestionably rallied behind Starbucks, a multi-billion dollar “greedy” corporation, when its CEO implemented a company policy based on his ultraliberal worldview. But I guarantee they will not support this small business woman for simply choosing to respect the sanctity of marriage. Nor have they supported Oregon’s Sweet Cakes owners, a young couple with three small children who declined to fill a wedding cake order for a homosexual wedding. In retaliation, these “progressives” marched with hostile picket signs in front of this bakery every Saturday to picket and harass the owners, their customers, and their partnering businesses.
And it is not just small businesses. Remember when Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy merely mentioned his personal — not corporate — policy on same-sex “marriage?” Goodness knows we had city mayors threatening to ban Chick-fil-A stores from Chicago and Boston. (And we all know how successful that plan was.)
So, once again, let us all put our money where our mouths are. Buy your values. This time for the sake and sustainability of small business owners.