No Soup For You

So now I have to worry while my partner and I are sitting in a movie theater or out having dinner that some nut case will creep up and shoot me in the back of the head because they think it’s legal. Sound crazy? Well some despicable low life attorney in Orange County, California is attempting to do just that with the “Sodomite Suppression Act." This guy, from Orange County, is attempting to get enough signatures for a ballot measure to legalize this hate crime with legislation that states “any person willingly engaging in sexual activity with someone of the same gender should be shot in the head”. I know, right? Well to be fair, he does say that other "convenient" methods of murder would be acceptable as well. It sounds so silly it’s almost funny…almost. So think about this, some stranger wants to make it a law to legally murder me, your friend. He wants to be able to legitimately put a bullet in my brain and if you are not as disgusted and upset as I am perhaps, well you figure it out. This guy’s not just thinking about how he'd like to shoot people in the head, he's promoting the idea as actual law. And I know what you’re thinking, “there’s no way this will ever become a law” and you’re probably right but that’s not the point and it doesn’t take away from the fact that this guy and others like him think that it should. Just imagine if someone was promoting the idea of killing all Chinese people, all left-handed people or all people who have an outie navel. This nut ball should be arrested and convicted for promoting genocide.

No, it won’t become a law but they’ve already begun conditioning people with things like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana. This law would allow businesses to legally use religion as a means to deny services. And believe me I am completely aware that there are those among my friends who don’t necessarily disagree and find justification in allowing this form of discrimination. Those who say people should not be forced to go against their religious beliefs. But what if I belong to a religion which states that those who have a second toe bigger than their first are inherently immoral and allowing them to marry would be an abomination. So here you come strolling (not sure if that’s the correct term considering that toe of yours) into my bakery and you expect me to bake a cake for your deviant ass. Uh no, ain’t gonna happen take your irregular digit out of here, we don’t serve your kind. As ridiculous as that may sound that’s exactly what this type of legislation does. Seriously, can someone point out the biblical passage which states thou shalt not serve the Gays because I must have missed that one in Sunday school. And as an aside no self-respecting Gay couple is going to have some greasy ass pizza joint cater their wedding. Their Gay cards would be revoked before they hung up the phone. 

Then there are those of you who say just take your business elsewhere. Fine but I shouldn’t have to worry when I walk into my local burger joint whether or not I’m going to be denied a burger with cheese hold the tomato, based on some fundamentalist nut ball theology and then have to search until I find an accepting one. If you open your business to the public, you must serve the public. All the public. You're not allowed to slice and dice and pick and choose the portion you find acceptable and not serve those you find icky. And stop with the stupid analogies. No, if an African-American owns a print shop you cannot be forced to print an offensive sign for the KKK. What you can be forced to do is to produce the same product for everyone who comes into your business. That’s not discrimination because you’re not printing hate speech signs for others and then refusing to do the same for the KKK. It’s simply not the same as refusing to make somebody a cake or a pizza just because they're Gay. You can restrict your product not your customers and if you feel your religious beliefs are being trounced maybe you should open up a private bakery, perhaps in your church hall. And by the way just because you’re baking a damn cake doesn’t mean you’re participating in the wedding. Nobody sent your dumb ass an invitation, drop off the cake and keep it pushing.

Let’s not forget folks that religious misinterpretation has been used for centuries as a tool to subjugate and rule over others. Check these out, Ephesians 6:5-6 and Titus 2:9-10. White supremacy in the south had its curse of Ham roots in southern Baptist and Protestant churches where Jim Crow laws used the Bible as justification for their racist segregationist ideology. Today just replace interracial marriage with Gay marriage in any anti same sex marriage conversation, tie it up in a big pretty religious bow of intolerance, and you sound just like George Wallace in front of a schoolhouse circa 1963 Alabama. And for those who believe in its absolute literal interpretation just remember the Bible was written by people who were confused and baffled as to where the sun went at night. Take the Bible for when it was written and by whom. Anyone who would propose killing in the name of God is absolutely wrong. That’s not God that’s man.