‘No Gays Allowed,’ Grainger County Store Owner Defends Co

Alan: In light of the following bible passage (excerpted from Mark, the earliest of the four canonical gospels, what is to prevent the invocation of "religious freedom" to refuse to commercial services to divorced men and women?

Mark 10 New International Version (NIV)

Divorce

10 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

² Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
³ “What did Moses command you?” he replied.
⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
⁵ “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. ⁶ “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’^{[a] 7} ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,^{[b] 8} and the two will become one flesh.’^[c] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
¹⁰ When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. ¹¹ He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. ¹² And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

‘No Gays Allowed,’ Grainger County store owner defends controversial sign 

WASHBURN (WATE) – A Grainger County store owner said he is simply voicing his freedom of religion and speech after posting a sign that has the community talking.

Phones at Amyx Hardware have been ringing non-stop after he posted a sign reading “No Gays Allowed” outside of his store in Washburn.  “A lot of people have called me and congratulated me,” said owner Jeff Amyx. But other calls are on the other side of spectrum. “People calling and threatening me. Telling me I would regret this. No I’ll never regret this,” said Amy

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A WATE 6 "On Your Side" viewer snapped a photo of the sign and sent it to the newsroom. “The reason I put up the sign is to let the homosexual people know that there are Christian people that are willing to take a stand,” said Amyx.

On Tuesday, Amyx took down the “No Gays Allowed” sign and put up a sign that reads “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”

“People told me I ought to do it a little bit more, make it a little nicer because I’m a very blunt person,” added Amyx. The signs are raising some questions in the Washburn community about how Amyx would even know someone was gay.

“It’s his business. He can do whatever he wants. If he wants gays to stay out then that’s his preference,” said homeowner Marvin Williams.

But Amyx wants to make sure one thing is clear, “I don’t hate people. It’s not the people I hate, it’s the sin that I hate.” He simply asks for respect, which in turn he says he’ll show if a customer is homosexual. “Well I might preach to you a little while,” said Amyx.

And there’s no telling what tomorrow may look like for the hardware store. “Until they tell me it is illegal to have my freedom of speech and to my freedom of religion, the sign will stay,” said Amyx. He said he is not worried about business at his hardware store. He simply felt compelled to take a stand.

Hedy Weinberg, the executive director at Tennessee’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union made this statement:

“Gay and lesbian people are our neighbors, coworkers, family members and friends. When it comes to being able to be served by a business, they should be treated like anyone else. Religion should not be used as an excuse to discriminate against LGBT people. Businesses that are open to the public should be open to everyone on the same terms.”