Wedding Cakes, Wedding Dresses And A Question of Religious Liberty
[guest post by Dana]
[Sorry, guys, but we’re now moving from women’s weight to wedding dresses. This is what happens when Patterico asks a girl to write for his blog.]
So, wedding dresses. Little girls dream of wearing them, twirling in them and looking like spun sugar confections under layers of lace and tulle. But for one couple, those dreams didn’t come to fruition in the way they expected. In Pennsylvania, a couple of brides-to-be were anything but sweet confections when they were refused service at a bridal shop:
A Christian bridal shop owner in Pennsylvania had a message for a pair of blushing brides-to-be: We don’t serve lesbians.
The unidentified couple tried to schedule an appointment at W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, only to be told by an employee that the owner currently “[does] not service same-sex couples.”
Owner Victoria Miller explained:
“We feel we have to answer to God for what we do,” Miller told The Press Enterprise. “And providing those two girls dresses for a sanctified marriage would break God’s law.”
Not taking the refusal quietly, the lesbian couple took to Facebook to make their frustration known. As a result, the online ratings for the bridal boutique were downgraded to one-star reviews. Facebook commenters were also quick to judge:
“Jesus made everyone feel welcome, shame you are not a follower of Christ.”
As a result of the kerfuffle, the Bloomsburg Town Council will be hold a meeting to discuss the incident and whether to propose legislation that will ban businesses from refusing to serve LGBT customers, potentially providing the couple the means with which to sue Miller. Miller has already hired an attorney. Also, because of the uproar, her business is now by appointment only.
Miller, however, has her defenders:
“Instead of showing the tolerance their movement claims to practice, the women turned to social media to bully the shop – trashing its online reviews and sparking a city-wide firestorm,” said Family Research Council (FRC). “Obviously W.W. Bridal Boutique isn’t the only wedding dress shop in town. These women could have easily taken their business elsewhere – but chose to retaliate instead.”
Referring to the leftist gay activist agenda as “forced acceptance,” FRC said, “When religious liberty clashes with homosexuality – as it has from bakeries to flower shops – the storylines are all the same: conform or be punished.”
–Dana