Why opponents of same-sex marriage are turning to GoFundMe

First pizza, now flowers.

A florist from Washington state, fined $1,000 in February for refusing to decorate a gay wedding in 2013 because she said doing so went against her Christian beliefs, has made more than $100,000 through an online crowdfunding site.

The response echoes the more than$840,000 raised for an Indiana pizzeria whose owners said they would not, as a Christian business, provide their services for a same-sex wedding.

Such donations highlight one way that supporters of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) are anonymously expressing their views in a discussion that has been dominated by opponents of the law. The recent passage of the RFRA in Indiana (and Arkansas) has drawn a stark line nationwide between advocates of religious freedoms and those of anti-discrimination leading some critics to say that those whose opinions are based on religious faith are now themselves facing intolerance.

About a week ago, Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., became the first business to publicly stand in support of the RFRA. Less than a day after their interview with WBND-TV aired, co-owners Kevin OConnor and his daughter Crystal found themselves facing social media outrage, a hacked website, and threats to their family and business.

I dont know if we will re-open, or if we can, if its safe to re-open, Ms. OConnor told Dana Loesch on The Blaze TV soon after the incident. Were in hiding basically, staying in the house.

In response to the outrage against Memories Pizza, Ms. Loesch and The Blaze contributor Lawrence B. Jones III set up a GoFundMe page for the OConnors, where they criticized the reaction against the pizzeria owners.

Rather than allowing this family to simply have their opinion, which they were asked to give, outraged people grabbed the torches and began a campaign to destroy this small business in small town Indiana, they wrote.

More than $200,000 from more than 7,000 donors poured in within 24 hours of the page going live. Later that week, another GoFundMe page, set up in February for Washington florist Baronnelle Stutzman,received a similar show of support, The Seattle Times reported.

The amounts that each initiative received reflect a quiet push back by supporters of the RFRA, some of whomsee the issue not as one of discrimination, but of freedom of choice or freedom of speech.

See more here:

Why opponents of same-sex marriage are turning to GoFundMe

Why opponents of same-sex marriage are donating to GoFundMe (+video)

First pizza, now flowers.

A florist from Washington state, fined $1,000 in February for refusing to decorate a gay wedding in 2013 because she said doing so went against her Christian beliefs, has made more than $100,000 through an online crowdfunding site.

The response echoes the more than$840,000 raised for an Indiana pizzeria whose owners said they would not, as a Christian business, provide their services for a same-sex wedding.

Such donations highlight one way that supporters of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) are anonymously expressing their views in a discussion that has been dominated by opponents of the law. The recent passage of the RFRA in Indiana (and Arkansas) has drawn a stark line nationwide between advocates of religious freedoms and those of anti-discrimination leading some critics to say that those whose opinions are based on religious faith are now themselves facing intolerance.

About a week ago, Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., became the first business to publicly stand in support of the RFRA. Less than a day after their interview with WBND-TV aired, co-owners Kevin OConnor and his daughter Crystal found themselves facing social media outrage, a hacked website, and threats to their family and business.

I dont know if we will re-open, or if we can, if its safe to re-open, Ms. OConnor told Dana Loesch on The Blaze TV soon after the incident. Were in hiding basically, staying in the house.

In response to the outrage against Memories Pizza, Ms. Loesch and The Blaze contributor Lawrence B. Jones III set up a GoFundMe page for the OConnors, where they criticized the reaction against the pizzeria owners.

Rather than allowing this family to simply have their opinion, which they were asked to give, outraged people grabbed the torches and began a campaign to destroy this small business in small town Indiana, they wrote.

More than $200,000 from more than 7,000 donors poured in within 24 hours of the page going live. Later that week, another GoFundMe page, set up in February for Washington florist Baronnelle Stutzman,received a similar show of support, The Seattle Times reported.

The amounts that each initiative received reflect a quiet push back by supporters of the RFRA, some of whomsee the issue not as one of discrimination, but of freedom of choice or freedom of speech.

Read more:

Why opponents of same-sex marriage are donating to GoFundMe (+video)

Why opponents of same-sex marriage are turning to GoFundMe (+video)

First pizza, now flowers.

A florist from Washington state, fined $1,000 in February for refusing to decorate a gay wedding in 2013 because she said doing so went against her Christian beliefs, has made more than $100,000 through an online crowdfunding site.

The response echoes the more than$840,000 raised for an Indiana pizzeria whose owners said they would not, as a Christian business, provide their services for a same-sex wedding.

Such donations highlight one way that supporters of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) are anonymously expressing their views in a discussion that has been dominated by opponents of the law. The recent passage of the RFRA in Indiana (and Arkansas) has drawn a stark line nationwide between advocates of religious freedoms and those of anti-discrimination leading some critics to say that those whose opinions are based on religious faith are now themselves facing intolerance.

About a week ago, Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., became the first business to publicly stand in support of the RFRA. Less than a day after their interview with WBND-TV aired, co-owners Kevin OConnor and his daughter Crystal found themselves facing social media outrage, a hacked website, and threats to their family and business.

I dont know if we will re-open, or if we can, if its safe to re-open, Ms. OConnor told Dana Loesch on The Blaze TV soon after the incident. Were in hiding basically, staying in the house.

In response to the outrage against Memories Pizza, Ms. Loesch and The Blaze contributor Lawrence B. Jones III set up a GoFundMe page for the OConnors, where they criticized the reaction against the pizzeria owners.

Rather than allowing this family to simply have their opinion, which they were asked to give, outraged people grabbed the torches and began a campaign to destroy this small business in small town Indiana, they wrote.

More than $200,000 from more than 7,000 donors poured in within 24 hours of the page going live. Later that week, another GoFundMe page, set up in February for Washington florist Baronnelle Stutzman,received a similar show of support, The Seattle Times reported.

The amounts that each initiative received reflect a quiet push back by supporters of the RFRA, some of whomsee the issue not as one of discrimination, but of freedom of choice or freedom of speech.

Read more from the original source:

Why opponents of same-sex marriage are turning to GoFundMe (+video)

Weddings, religion and free speech

After a storm of protest from supporters of gay rights and the business community, Indiana and Arkansas have revised their Religious Freedom Restoration Acts. But it still isnt clear whether bakers, caterers and photographers that have religious objections to same-sex weddings can withhold their services from such celebrations.

Thetweaked Indiana law says businesses may not deny service on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but some caterers, photographers andpizza purveyors insist they are happy to serve gays and lesbians and same-sex couples. They draw the line at facilitating/endorsing a ceremony they consider sacrilegious. (If a gay couple wants pizza for a New Years Eve party, no problem.)

Is refusing to bake or embellish a wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, or simply a refusal to participate in -- and endorse the message of -- an activity? And is requiring someone to sell cakes or pizzas to a same-sex wedding really a "substantial burden" on their freeexercise of religion? We may find out as the Indiana law and others are tested in court.

Meanwhile, its worth noting that freedom of religion isnt the only legal weapon that potentially can be wielded by people in the wedding business who dont want to be complicit in same-sex nuptials.

Its widely believed that the political genesis of the Indiana RFRA was concern that anti-gay-marriage merchants would suffer the fate of Elaine Huguenin, a wedding photographer in New Mexico who didnt want to take pictures of a female couples commitment ceremony. The couple complained that Huguenins refusal violated a state law against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and the states Human Rights Commission andSupreme Court agreed.

Huguenin tried several arguments. She said she wasnt really discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, but the court rejected the distinction she tried to draw between sexual orientation and conduct so closely correlated with sexual orientation.

She also cited New Mexicos RFRA, but the court said that the religious-freedom law applied to only situations in which the government was a party not to disputes between private individuals. (Not very persuasively, the court said that the legislature and a court were not government agencies.) Interestingly, the Indiana RFRA made itclear that it would apply regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding.

So much for Huguenins religious-freedom arguments. But she made another claim based not on religious freedom but on another right enshrined in the 1st Amendment: the freedom of speech. As the New Mexico Supreme Court put it: Elane Photography [the name of Huguenins business] concludes that by requiring it to photograph same-sex weddings on the same basis that it photographs opposite-sex weddings, the NMHRA unconstitutionally compels it to create and engage in expression that sends a positive message about same-sex marriage not shared by its owner.

The New Mexico Supreme Court wasnt impressed by this argument, and neither, apparently, was the U.S. Supreme Court, whichdeclined last year to hear Huguenins appeal. But the issue could arise again.

The free-speech argument is arguably stronger than the religious-freedom claim. For one thing, its rooted not in a statute but in the 1st Amendment, which the Supreme Court in other cases has interpreted to prohibit compelled speech. (Perhaps the most famous example is the 1943ruling in which the court held that a state couldnt require schoolchildren to salute the American flag.)

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Weddings, religion and free speech

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Lets leave Obama out of our seders

President Barack Obama in Washington on March 9. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Jews have big mouths. Put those big mouths in a society that reveres freedom of speech and its a sight to behold. On the whole, its a wonderful attribute. We analyze everything, we criticize endlessly, we kvetch, we yell, we do everything but shut up. Its as if were taking revenge on all those centuries when we often had to watch what we said. Here, in the land of the First Amendment, keeping quiet is no longer a Jewish ailment.

Im always amused when I hear an American Jew complain, Theyre trying to shut me up! I dont know about you, but Ive never been able to shut a Jew up.

But in this column, I will try.

You see, there is one time when our big mouths dont serve us so well. Its when we sit down for a holy meal. Take Shabbat, for example, a time for reflection and joy. You know how to spoil the joyfulness of a Shabbat meal? Just complain about Obama. Or Bibi, or Abbas, or Iran, or BDS or just about anything else we complain about during the week.

Its not that these issues are not important. They are. The real question is: Do they belong at a Shabbat table? Do they uplift us?

With the Passover seders coming up, my own challenge will be to shut myself up. Im so upset these days with the way President Obama has been treating Bibi and Israel that it will be hard for me to contain myself. I, too, have a big mouth, and I love living in a country where Im free to criticize everything, including my president.

But am I obligated to use that freedom at a seder table?

Lets play things out. Im sitting at a big and noisy seder with my family. Someone brings up the subject of a nuclear Iran. My brother, a renowned scientist who always has brilliant insights, is sitting next to me. I am tempted to get his take on the situation, especially on how Obama seems to be appeasing the Persian mullahs. But I know that if I do that, well be in for a good 30 minutes of talking about politics.

Meanwhile, what would happen to the Exodus story? Where would the mood and the energy of the seder go?

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Lets leave Obama out of our seders

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University of Maryland officials say hateful e-mail did not violate policy

University of Maryland officials have concluded that a vulgar e-mail a student sent to members of his fraternity last year was hateful and reprehensible, but did not violate the schools policies and is protected by the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech.

University President Wallace D. Loh announced Wednesday the results of an investigation that involved campus and Prince Georges County police, as well as the universitys Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct.

At issue was a private e-mail sent in January 2014 by a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity that surfaced publicly in March this year. It contained a racist, sexist message indicating that the author wanted to have sex with women during fraternity rush week but didnt want people to invite women of certain races. The e-mail also contained a line using an expletive to indicate above all else to forget about consent.

Loh said the e-mail was profoundly hurtful to the entire university community. By mutual consent, he said the student responsible has left campus and will not return for the semester.

The student issued an apology through Lohs statement:

I apologize for the pain that I have caused you, the entire University of Maryland community, and many others who were offended by my words. ... For this, I am deeply sorry.

I regret sending that e-mail more than Ill ever be able to put into words, the student continued. I know there is no way to erase this incident or the agony it has caused, but ... I have learned an important life lesson, realizing there is no room for hate or prejudice of any kind in our community.

Loh said the student proposed to undergo training in diversity and cultural competence and to perform community service. I accepted these actions to hold him morally accountable, Loh said.

The student is no longer a member of the fraternity.

Nick Anderson covers higher education for The Washington Post. He has been a writer and editor at The Post since 2005.

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University of Maryland officials say hateful e-mail did not violate policy

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