Discrimination Against Christians Upheld By Court
A ruling by New Mexico’s Civil Rights Commission against a Christian photographer has been upheld by a New Mexico Judge. District Judge Alan M. Malote upheld that Elane Photography broke the law when they refused to accept a job photographing a lesbian wedding ceremony on religious grounds.
Neither civil unions or same-sex marriage is legal in New Mexico, but regardless of that fact, when Elane Photography refused the job, they discriminated against the couple’s sexual orientation. This is the unintended consequence of hate-crimes legislation, that we lose our freedom of association.
Remember when you would walk into a store and they had a sign up that said: “We reserve the right to refuse service to ANYONE?” If you walked in and turned into an a-hole, they could refuse to do business with you. Now, rightly so, civil rights legislation forbids discrimination based on race or gender, but a lifestyle choice that is an affront to established Christian religious tradition for thousands of years should not carry the same protections.
In this case, the prosecution and fine is a double insult as Elane photography referred the clients to another studio that could accommodate their needs. It wasn’t that they were not able to get a photographer, it was that they couldn’t FORCE this particular photographer to violate their conscience by attending and photographing their lesbian event.
By the same logic, if they had wanted to hire a photographer for a gay pride parade, or even a nude wedding that happened to be for a homosexual pair, they could be prosecuted. The over-arching special protections afforded to gays and lesbians by hate crimes legislation is a blunt weapon that has and will continue to be used against people of faith. In Canada, Europe, and now, New Mexico, Christians can’t live their faith if homosexuals, on a whim, decide they want to force themselves upon them or their business.
PC-nazis of the world, unite!
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