TRUE STORIES

This page features news articles that illustrate the dangers of anti-discrimination laws taken too far. You can follow by email to receive emails when new stories are posted.

The articles are organized by category in the left hand column.

For more resource reading on understanding homosexuality, gay marriage and the arguments for marriage between one man and one woman, click HERE.

Shirt Company Won't Fold on Values


Tony Perkins - Washington Update
FAMILY RESEARCH COUNSEL
December 15, 2014 - Monday

T-shirt maker Blaine Adamson doesn’t exactly wear his heart on his sleeve, but he’s not about to ignore it either. When the Kentucky businessman was approached about printing rainbow shirts for Lexington’s gay pride festival two years ago, he had to turn the job down. As a Christian, he felt that using his shop to promote a message that contradicted his faith was a non-starter.
Unfortunately, Adamson has paid for his principles -- dearly. In October, the city’s “special rights” ordinance -- the same kind of measure that’s caused a firestorm in Houston, San Antonio, Fayetteville, and Springfield -- came back to bite Hands On, which was found guilty of “discrimination” and sentenced to a year of “sensitivity training.” As far as Lexington’s Human Rights Commissioner was concerned, it’s time for Christians in the marketplace “to leave their religion at home.”
But that won’t happen without a fight. Late last week, Blaine announced that he’s appealing the decision. “No one should be forced by the government to endorse or promote ideas with which they disagree,” his attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) argued. “Laws that do that are fundamentally unjust. We are appealing the commission’s decision because the First Amendment protects the freedom of every American to decline to speak on any issue without fear of punishment.”

Religious Freedom: Protecting how we Practice our Faith

Three more examples of reverse discrimination that is growing every day:

  Frank Turek was hired by Cisco Systems as a leadership consultant, helping the company’s employees become better leaders and team players. He was so successful that his contract was renewed. His seminars were highly rated by those in attendance. That is, until one of his seminar attendees Googled Turek’s name and learned he had written a book supporting one man, one woman marriage. The student complained that Turek didn’t fit with Cisco’s “tolerance” polices. Shortly thereafter, the company fired Turek in 2010.

 Craig James was a former NFL running back and U.S. Senate candidate from Texas prior to being hired in 2013 by Fox Sports Southwest as a college football broadcaster. Just days later, James was fired when Fox learned that James, while campaigning for U.S. Senate, had advocated for one man, one woman marriage.

 Natalie Johnson worked for Macy’s in 2011, when she asked a man to leave the women’s dressing room area. The obviously male customer argued he was a woman; however, Johnson was adamant. Johnson was fired for not complying with Macy’s policy regarding transgender-identified individuals.

 http://media.focusonthefamily.com/fotf/pdf/channels/social-issues/tv-religiousfreedom-final2.pdf 

Catholic University Training: Report Criticism of Gay Marriage as Harassment

By 
An anti-harassment training session at a Catholic university in Wisconsin encouraged employees to report anyone they hear criticizing gay marriage to the school’s human-resources department.

 Read this story at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/394354/catholic-university-training-report-criticism-gay-marriage-harassment-katherine-timpf

Catholic profs told to report opposition to 'gay marriage' as harassment

By Kevin J. Jones
Milwaukee, Wis., Dec 9, 2014 / 04:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An anti-harassment training presentation at a Catholic college encourages employees to report critics of “gay marriage” – and could reflect recent federal decisions that the belief in marriage as a union of a man and a woman is discriminatory.

Part of the employee anti-harassment training at the Wisconsin-based Marquette University includes a presentation with a comic strip-style story about a fictional employee named “Harassed Hans,” a man in a wheelchair. The training encourages Hans to report to the university human resources his co-workers Becky and Maria who “have been talking about their opposition to same-sex marriage” all week.

Colorado baker ordered to serve gay couples vows to stop making wedding cakes

Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission ruled that Phillips’ refusal to serve a gay couple was tantamount to discrimination.Jack Phillips would rather stop making cakes altogether than be forced to bake for an LGBT couple’s wedding. The Lakewood man’s decision came after his state’s Civil Rights Commission ruled that he had discriminated against newlyweds David Mullins and Charlie Craig.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS         
Tuesday, June 3, 2014


This takes the cake.
A Colorado baker has pledged to stop making wedding cakes after his state’s Civil Rights Commission ordered him to start baking for same-sex couples.
Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, was willing to go to court to defend his decision to refuse service to two grooms who walked into his shop last year looking for a way to celebrate their marriage.
Phillips’ crusade turned out to be a giant failure after the Commission unanimously ruled that he had violated civil rights law by discriminating against the couple.

The devout Christian is retaliating by refusing to make wedding cakes altogether.
“We would close down the bakery before we would complicate our beliefs,” Phillips told CBS Denver.
The man said that he would be happy to make cakes for an LGBT person’s birthday party. But he believes making a wedding cake would be equivalent to participating in the ceremony.
Phillips isn’t too worried about his business shutting down—he says business is booming at Masterpiece Cakeshop. His brownies and cookies are reportedly flying off the counters, snatched up by people who agree with his stance on gay marriage.







Floral Quarrel: AG Threatens to Close Shop over Marriage

December 08, 2014 - Monday


Family Research Counsel -  Tony Perkins WASHINGTON UPDATE
Lots of families take a trip to grandma’s house over Christmas -- but in Washington State, Barronnelle Stuzman may not have a house to host people! In an outrageous lawsuit from the state attorney general, the Christian florist stands to lose everything -- including her home -- because of her beliefs on marriage. As if it weren’t enough that Barronnelle is being sued by a long-time customer, the state is bringing a second wave of accusations that the owner of Arlene’s Flowers somehow “discriminated” by turning down an order to serve a same-sex “wedding.”
Now, the florist of 40 years is being hauled before a court in a Christian inquisition that could cost her the business she spent decades building. Last Friday, a court heard the state’s arguments for suing Barronnelle as a private citizen -- something officials can only do under very special circumstances. Although the judge didn’t issue a ruling on the state’s motion, another hearing is scheduled for December 19.
In the meantime, Barronnelle could very well be enjoying the last Christmas in her home if Washington manages to move the case forward. “In America,” her attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) argued, “the state shouldn’t jeopardize your personal assets just because it disagrees with you...” ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner told reporters. “Plenty of other florists are willing to provide flowers for same-sex ceremonies, yet the state attorney general insists on going after -- not only her business, but her personal finances as well.” And the Left says we’re the intolerant ones?
Obviously, this isn’t about flowers -- but about exacting a price from anyone who holds a biblical view of marriage. It’s about forcing Christians to check their beliefs at the workplace door. And it’s about using the full weight of the government to punish Americans for exercising the freedom our Constitution guarantees them. Join us in praying for Barronnelle, for ADF, and for every Christian faced with the ultimate test of standing up for their faith.

UN chief hails Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst’s ‘powerful message’



3 November 2014 – As part of a visit to mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Vienna International Centre today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was among those treated to a performance by Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, calling her win earlier this year an “electrifying moment of human rights education.”
“She confounds people’s preconceived ideas of gender and sexuality – and she appeals to them to accept her as she is,” Mr. Ban said of the drag performer, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Austria in May, marking the country’s first win since 1966.
“That is a powerful message,” he noted, adding that he is “delighted she is using her talent and the Eurovision platform to take this message to a global audience.” “She is an incredible singer and entertainer,” Mr. Ban said. “But what made her win so meaningful was the way she turned her victory in the Song Contest into an electrifying moment of human rights education.”

Experts urge lifting ban on blood donations by gay men

CBS NEWS    By DENNIS THOMPSON HEALTHDAY  July 25, 2014, 11:03 AM

The United States should repeal a 30-year policy that bans blood donations from gay and bisexual men, according to a team of medical and legal experts writing this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Currently, a man who has ever had sex with another man cannot donate blood in the United States -- a lifetime ban that has been in place since 1983.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration adopted this policy at the dawn of the AIDS crisis. However, changing times and technological advances have rendered the decades-old ban obsolete, said JAMA article co-author Glenn Cohen, who directs Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics.
"We think it's time for the FDA to take a serious look at its policy, because it's out of step with peer countries, it's out of step with modern medicine, it's out of step with public opinion, and we feel it may be legally problematic," said Cohen, who co-wrote the article with Jeremy Feigenbaum of Harvard Law School and Dr. Eli Adashi of Brown University's medical school.
... By implementing a lifetime ban on donation from sexually active gay or bisexual males, "you're giving a 'scarlet letter' of sorts to these men," Cohen said.
The policy also stands in stark contrast to recent advances in gay rights, and could be open to a legal challenge, given that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, he said.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/experts-urge-lifting-ban-on-blood-donations-by-gay-men/

Teacher to student: If you don't support gay marriage, drop my class

    

Transgender Teen Awarded $75,000 in School Restroom Lawsuit

Case was brought when a Maine school district forced the student to use a staff restroom

A court in Maine awarded the family of a transgender teenager $75,000 in a discrimination lawsuit against a school district that forced the student to use a staff restroom rather than a facility reserved for pupils, reportsthe Associated Press.
Jonas Maines, Nicole Maines, Wayne MainesNicole Maines, 17, had won her lawsuit against the Orono school district earlier this year in front of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled that the school district had violated the state’s Human Rights Act.
The case marked the first time a state’s highest court ruled that a transgender person has the right to use the restroom of the gender with which they identify.
In the wake of the court’s decision, a lower court awarded the financial settlement to the Maines family and the activist organization, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defender, on Nov. 25. In accordance with the order, the Orono school district is prohibited from refusing transgender students access “to school restrooms that are consistent with their gender identity.”
The case stemmed from an incident in 2007 when the grandfather of a fellow fifth grade classmate complained to school administrators that Maines was allowed to use the girls’ restroom. In the wake of the protest, the Orono school district began forcing Maines to use a staff facility — a decision that her parents argued was discriminatory.
Read more at:  http://time.com/3615599/transgender-student-restroom-lawsuit-maine/

Minnesota Board Forces Girls HS Teams to include Transgenders

'



High School League overwhelmingly approves transgender policy

  • Article by: DAVID LA VAQUE , Star Tribune 
    •  
  • Updated: December 4, 2014 - 11:45 PM
    •   Capping months of emotional debate that brought tens of thousands of e-mails, the board overseeing high school athletics in Minnesota overwhelmingly said yes Thursday to opening up girls’ sports to transgender student-athletes.
The decision by the Minnesota State High School League will take effect in the 2015-16 school year, making the state the 33rd to adopt a formal transgender student policy.

Thousands petition against "19 Kids and Counting" for LGBTQ "fear mongering"

ByDARIAN     LUSK           CBS NEWS         November 19, 2014,                

Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar of "19 Kids and Counting" speak at the Values Voter Summit on September 17, 2010 in Washington, DC.  BRENDAN HOFFMAN
The one thing cropping up faster than children for the Duggar family is controversy.
A petition on Change.org urging TLC to cancel the family's reality show, "19 Kids and Counting," is gaining momentum.
"End LGBTQ fear mongering by the Duggars," a letter posted on petition page reads. "The Duggars have been using their fame to promote discrimination, hate, and fear-mongering against gays and transgendered people. You need to take a stand on the side of justice and cancel their show."
The petition currently has over 78,000 signatures.

Marin photogs shut business rather than shoot same-sex weddings

By Evan Sernoffsky   
 Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Confronted over their decision not to take pictures at same-sex weddings, a Bay Area photography company opted to permanently put on its lens caps and shut its doors, according to a statement posted on the company’s website.
Urloved photography, a San Rafael husband-and-wife team, said it had recently referred a San Francisco gay couple to another photographer for their wedding photos because they “have different personal beliefs that we have difficulty with.”
“We genuinely felt referring this couple to a photographer who does share their personal beliefs would provide them with the best service for their special day,” a statement on urlovedphotography.com reads.
The incident is only the latest of dozens of recent national disputes between gay couples and businesses who deny service while claiming personal or religious freedom.

200 people tell school board what they think of gender sensitivity training

Deena Winter | Oct 14, 2014 |
LINCOLN, Neb. – About 200 people turned out for a school board meeting in Lincoln, Neb., Tuesday night to support and oppose gender inclusiveness training that was done with middle school teachers last month.
An hour-and-a-half into the meeting, 10 people had testified against the training program, and eight in support. One woman brought a petition signed by 385 people she said supported the training program.
Lincoln Public Schools made national news earlier this month because the training program suggested avoid using “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls” or “ladies and gentlemen,” but instead call students campers, scholars, readers, athletes or even a contrived class mascot such as Purple Penguins.

Farm owners fined for saying no to lesbian wedding

The Washington Post      By Sarah Pulliam Bailey |August 19, 2014

NEW YORK — Christian farm owners in upstate New York who declined a lesbian couple’s request to hold a wedding ceremony on their property have been fined $10,000 and ordered to pay the women $1,500 each.
Cynthia and Robert Gifford, who own Liberty Ridge Farm near Albany, rent their facilities for birthday parties and about a dozen weddings each year.
When Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, a same-sex couple from Newark, N.J., requested to use the facility for their 2012 wedding, Cynthia Gifford offered the farm for a reception, but not for the wedding ceremony. Weddings typically are conducted on the first floor of the Giffords’ home or in an adjacent field.

“It literally hits close to home,” said the Giffords’ lawyer, James Trainor. He said the farm owners attend a community church and cite their religious belief of marriage between a man and woman for declining to hold a same-sex wedding on their property.
Administrative Law Judge Migdalia Pares of the Bronx rejected the owners’ argument that the farm, which is also their home, is not a place of public accommodation and is therefore not subject to the anti-discrimination provisions of New York’s Human Rights Law.
The decision said Liberty Ridge qualifies as a public accommodation because it regularly collects fees for space, facilities, services and meals, so it cannot be considered “distinctly private.”
“The fact that the Giffords also reside at Gifford Barn,” the decision says, “does not render it private.”
The farmer owners must pay $13,000 in fines and restitution, the agency ruled. Trainor said the Giffords are considering whether to appeal or pursue further legal action.
“Liberty Ridge Farm . has employed gay people and has conducted events for same-sex couples,” Trainor said. “The Giffords’ objection was to hosting and participating in the wedding ceremony itself and not to providing service in general to lesbians.”

SLPD: Utah cop who asked not to ride in gay pride parade resigns

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake police officer placed on leave last week said he was "uncomfortable" with the assignment to ride ahead of the Utah Pride Parade.


"The officer simply felt that the level of participation required in the event could be perceived as endorsing or advocating in favor of the LGBTQ community, a position which made him uncomfortable given his personal and religious beliefs," 

Intolerance Fits Liberals to a T (Shirt)

FRC - Tony Perkins - October 9, 2014
A Kentucky company called "Hands On" wishes liberals would keep their "hands off!" Two years after the Christian outfitters turned down a t-shirt order for a local gay pride parade, the far-Left crowd is getting its revenge. After 24 months of back-and-forth, Lexington's Human Rights Commission finally issued its ruling this week, finding the business guilty of breaking the town's "fairness" ordinance. Their punishment? City-ordered reeducation known as "diversity training."
The Commission's Executive Director, Raymond Sexton, says he agrees that it's time for Christians in the marketplace "to leave their religion at home." Otherwise, he warned, "you can find yourself two years down the road and you're still involved in a legal battle because you did not do so." Still, he tried to hedge, "We're not telling somehow how to feel with respect to religion, but the law is pretty clear that if you operate a business to the public, you need to provide your services to people regardless..." Sexton explained to Fox News's Todd Starnes.
But just because a company sells to the public doesn't mean it has to surrender its private views. Even for a t-shirt company, there's no one-size-fits all approach to managing a business. Like any shop, Hands On has the freedom to establish its own criteria of conduct and conscience. Blaine Adamson, the devout believer who runs Hands On Originals, was stunned. After all, there was no malice in the family's decision -- who politely declined to print t-shirts with a rainbow message that contradicted their faith. Unfortunately for the Left, the Constitution doesn't award its rights on the basis of political correctness. And until that changes, the Adamsons have as much freedom to reject homosexuality as his customers do to endorse it.

The Story of Barronelle Stutzman, Owner of Arlene's Flowers who is being sued for not providing service for a gay wedding

https://www.alliancedefendingfreedom.org/home/detail/8982



BUSINESS AS USUAL

Not only did Barronelle employ people who identified as homosexual at Arlene’s Flowers, but for nine years she lovingly served the same-sex couple who would later sue her.


CONFLICT WITH FAITH

Barronelle declined to use her artistic skills and abilities for the same-sex wedding because she believes marriage should only be between one man and one woman.

PUNISHED UNJUSTLY

For the first time since the law's enactment, the Washington state attorney general office interpreted a state statute to single out and punish a private citizen. Not only did they sue her business, but they sued Barronelle personally.
" Little by little, they are stripping us of any thought we might have, or any difference of opinion. This is our religious freedom at stake. "

- Barronelle Stutzman

Cleveland Cavalier about First Amendment Rights

Coming soon to a city near you: Houston Mayor Annise Parker's totalitarian tactics! Pastors and churches beware: leaders in Cleveland, Ohio obviously didn't learn anything from the controversy in Texas, or they might have reconsidered their latest "transgender-inclusion bathroom and locker room ordinance."
Starting today, the city is kicking off a round of meetings on the special rights measure that, like Houston's and others', would give locals the right to use any facility they want regardless of their biological sex. "We have to get out of the mindset that someone is going into the bathroom to attack," one city leader said in response to very real fears that the rule would be an open invitation to sexual predators.
Adding to the drama (and outrage), Cleveland has a shocking way of enforcing the policy: a $1,000 fine to any person or business who restricts restrooms to one gender. "So if a woman is alone in a business and sees some guy follow her into the restroom -- and you know this will start to happen -- and she screams and makes a huge fuss to draw attention to the male invading her privacy, SHE is the one who will get slapped with a $1000 fine?" wrote one author. "How about a privacy-respecting business owner who listens to his or her female customers? Or the grandmas who stand at the door of the public pools -- with pitchforks, perhaps -- to keep pedophiles out of the showers with their eight-year-old granddaughters?"


New Mexico Court: Christian Photographer Cannot Refuse Gay-Marriage Ceremony

by  22 Aug 2013 1966POST A COMMENT

Today the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that Christian photographers cannot decline to participate in gay-marriage commitment ceremonies, even though that state does not have gay marriage and the court acknowledged that providing services for the ceremony violated the Christian’s sincerely-held, traditional religious beliefs. This becomes one of the first major cases where religious liberty collides with gay rights, and could now go to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Elane Huguenin is a photographer in New Mexico. She and her husband Jonathan jointly own their family business, Elane Photography. Specifically, Elane is a photojournalist—using a carefully-planned series of photographs to tell a story and convey a message. She is also a devout Christian, who believes that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
In 2006, Vanessa Willock contacted Elane Photography, asking Elane to photograph her lesbian commitment ceremony. It was a private commitment ceremony because New Mexico recognizes neither gay marriage nor gay civil unions. Elane thanked Willock for her interest, but explained that due to her religious beliefs she only does traditional weddings.

Read more: HTTP://WWW.BREITBART.COM/BIG-GOVERNMENT/2013/08/22/NEW-MEXICO-COURT-CHRISTIAN-PHOTOGRAPHER-CANNOT-REFUSE-GAY-MARRIAGE-CEREMONY-NEXT-STOP-U-S-SUPREME-COURT

What same-sex "marriage" has done to Massachusetts

It's far worse than most people realize.  The judges ruled that because same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, the school actually had a duty to normalize homosexual relationships to children, and that schools have no obligation to notify parents or let them opt-out their children! Acceptance of homosexuality had become a matter of good citizenship! 

http://www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/effects_of_ssm.html

Motion passes for genderless bathrooms in Vancouver schools


WATCH: The Vancouver School Board makes some controversial changes to its policies around transgender students. Catherine Urquhart reports.
VANCOUVER – It’s a victory for the LGBTQ community in the Lower Mainland – the concept of genderless bathrooms is coming to Vancouver schools.
Vancouver School Board trustees passed the motion during a meeting Monday night.
It was a heated meeting with hundreds of people showing up to voice their support or their criticism of the decision.

Calif. Colleges Get Genderless Bathrooms

The University of California school system will start installing gender-neutral bathrooms in facilities at different campuses to make the schools more comfortable for transgender students. A few campuses already have gender-neutral dorms that allow students to live together, but now all single stall bathrooms in any UC facility will be available for a user of any gender. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/09/30/calif-colleges-get-genderless-bathrooms.html

School Threatens Girls Who Complain About Being Harassed By Boy In Girl’s Bathrooms


When it was first reported that schools would be forced to allow boys who claim to identify themselves as girls, to use the girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms, I warned that it would put girls in danger of being sexually harassed.  And that’s exactly what is happening at Florence High School in Florence, Colorado.
Girls attending the high school have been complaining that a boy, who claims to identify as a girl has been harassing them and making improper comments to them while in the girl’s bathroom.  The boy in question not only uses the girls’ bathroom, but he also uses the boys’ bathrooms which send a mixed message as to his supposed gender identification.
When some of the girls complained to school officials, they were told that there was nothing the school could do and that continued complaints could result in the girls being punished.  Some of the girls were told that they could be removed from the school’s team they were on if they continued to complain about the boy.

Read more at http://godfatherpolitics.com/13000/school-threatens-girls-complain-harassed-boy-girls-bathrooms/#jl8VfmyMYxi5zeSp.99



Coy Mathis' family celebrates civil rights win for transgender child

Six-year-old Coy Mathis was front and center during a press conference on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol to announce that the Colorado CivilSix-year-old Coy Mathis was front and center during a press conference on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol to announce that the Colorado Civil Rights Division has ruled in favor of Coy Mathis, whose school had barred her from using the girlsÕ bathroom at her elementary school because she is transgender, June 24, 2013. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_23529796/coy-mathis-family-celebrates-civil-rights-win-transgender
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