School Musical Canceled Becaue It's Gay

Back in May of this year, Principal Jesse Smith of the South Williamsport Jr/Sr High School in Pennsylvania dashed off a $1935.00 check to order the licensing rights for the musical Spamalot to be performed at the school next spring. Then, without warning, the play was off.

And when people began to question why the play had been cancelled, speculation arose it was because the musical contained a same-sex wedding scene and, you know, gay. Principal Smith, who’d sent the original check, vehemently denied that the cancellation had anything to do with homosexual themes except … lie.

In addition, Mark Stamm had claimed that, even though the play was cancelled, it was never really scheduled to be performed, even though the school had spent nearly two-thousand dollars securing the rights to perform the musical.

Then Keystone Progress, using Pennsylvania’s ‘Right to Know’ law found a series of emails between Principal Smith, school musical director Dawn Burch, and Superintendent Mark Stamm making it quite clear that the only justification Smith ever gave for canceling the Spamalot production was its “homosexual themes.”

In emails sent by Principal Smith to Dawn Burch, he voiced his concerns about two issues in the script: “a guy sending another guy a message on girl’s underwear and a gay wedding being performed.”

Dawn Burch, who had a copy of the script and had read it through twice, replied that there was no underwear-sending scene in the script, and, as for the “homosexual themes” she replied: “I am fully aware of their place in the script and am not certain what offense they create” since marriage equality had recently arrived in Pennsylvania.

Smith then made it clear that he was “not comfortable with Spamalot and its homosexual themes for two main reasons:”

1] Drama productions “are supposed to be performances that families can attend” and that “this type of material makes it very hard for that to take place.”

2] Controversial productions “put students in a tough spot.”

He said he didn’t “want students to have to choose between their own personal beliefs and whether or not to take part in a production.” He also said homosexuality does not exist in a conservative community such as South Williamsport.

Wow, then it must be the only place in the entire world that is queer free, eh? 

Dawn Burch, apparently aware that Principal Smith was pushing his own anti-gay agenda onto the production, reached out to Superintendent Stamm to tell him how shocked she was by Smith’s decision: “It is extremely disappointing that homosexuality would be the basis of not approving a show.” She also suggested that, by cancelling the show, that “this is how we raise children to be haters.”

Stamm, though, was firmly on Team Bigotry, saying “[Principal Smith’s] decision is sound” and so the play was off; the two grand flushed away.

Dawn Burch put away her plans for Spamalot and met again with Smith to select a new musical, but by this time the story had gotten out and a local news station, WNEP, as well as Think Progress reached out to Dawn Burch, Principal Smith and Superintendent Stamm for a comment.

Stamm apparently replied that the school wanted performances “to be appropriate for the student performers and audiences” and then asserted, again, that the play was only in consideration—the existence of that check had yet to be revealed. School Board President John J. Engel Jr. also claimed that homosexuality did not enter into the decision to cancel the production, but that they had merely decided it was not an appropriate show because … gay.

Look, let me make this queer for Smith and Stamm, et al: there was no issue with the play in the beginning; the school paid to license the rights to the play so it was planning to perform it; it wasn’t ‘under consideration’ because two-thousand dollars had already been spent and you don’t spend that kind of money on an ‘if.’ It wasn’t until Smith and Stamm got wind of the same-sex wedding scene that they decided, these two men and no one else, that Spamalot was inappropriate for the students and for a town where The Gays don’t exist.

And I’ll go back to what Dawn Burch said, because it’s true: by cancelling this play it sends a message to the students at the school that being gay is wrong, that same-sex marriage is wrong. This decision reinforces that sense of hatred, bigotry and intolerance on yet another generation.

It’s time that stopped.

via ThinkProgress

Lorraine Fleming of Cake Pros Says Jesus Told Her Not To Bake For The Gays

It’s happened again: WeddingCakeGate.

This time it’s Lorraine Fleming, the owner of Cake Pros in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania who has refused to bake a cake … bake a mother-effing cake … for a same-sex wedding because she says it violates her Christian right to bigotry, homophobia and just plain discrimination.

And I, for one, am so sick of this shiz.

It all started when Jennifer and Bethany Petrich wanted a cake for a vow renewal ceremony and Jennifer’s mother, who was planning the event, scheduled an appointment with Cake Pros to taste some cakes. During the conversation it came up that it was a cake for :::gasp::: two women, and a couple of days later, before the appointment, Lorraine Fleming called to say that Cake Pros — 'pro' is short for professional which does not apply to this particular business — would not bake a cake because they don’t ‘do’ same-sex weddings … or vow renewal ceremonies.

Lorraine Fleming used the ‘Christian’ excuse for denying service, and then added the she had … wait for it … it’s rich … “talked to Jesus for two weeks” and that because the cake was for a couple of Lesbians Jesus told her not to bake the cake.

Yup, she's saying that Jesus said, Oh hell no.

Here’s the deal, Cake Pros … and Jesus , if you’re listening and actually said what she says you said … you are not being asked to participate in the wedding; you are not being asked to condone it; you are not being asked to sanctify it, dance at it, celebrate it or even like it. You are being asked to do what you do: bake an effing cake.

And it doesn’t matter what the people who order the cake and pay for the cake do with it once it leaves your shop. These women could take it out in a rowboat and set fire to it and it’s not your business.

It’s.Not.Your.Business. Your business is to bake cakes.

Jennifer and Bethany took to Facebook to let everyone know about their story … as folks should when a public business refuses services to them … and the bakery has received a lot of attention. Lorraine Fleming says some of her employees have been harassed and that, too, is wrong.

Go on and spread the word that Cake Pros won’t sell cakes for same-sex weddings, and talk about Lorraine Fleming all you want, but her employees do not set policy, or make decisions; hell, her employees might have loved baking that cake because, you know, they’re there to work and get paid … for baking.

Lorraine Fleming has said she sorry “as far as hurt feelings" and then, naturally, played the I have gay folks in my family card, but this is about religion and the Baby Jeebus and if the Bay Jeebus said Don’t Serve The Gays, well, she’d probably tell her gay family to go away, too.

Cuz that’s Christian love, y’all.

And for those of you who say, “Why not just go to a different bakery” well, I agree. But I also think the word should be spread that a public business is discriminating against people based on sexual orientation.

I mean, would we be acting as if Jennifer and Bethany are over-reacting if they happened to be a Black heterosexual couple refused service? No, because that’s a crime, but discriminating against The Gays is still legal in much of the country, and unless, and until, we point out every single business owner who hides behind religion to refuse service, our fight will never truly be won.

Rant over. Soap box stored away for another day.

Except … oh yeah … if you live anywhere near Cake Pros, try a different bakery.

source

W.W. Bridal Boutique Is A "Straights Only" Business

First it was the bakers, who refused to bake cakes for same-sex couples to celebrate their weddings. And then it was the florists, who said ‘Hell no’ when it came to supplying flowers for a gay couple’s ceremony. So, is it really any surprise that Victoria miller, owner of W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where same-sex marriage is legal, has refused to sell a wedding dress to a same-sex couple?

Not really surprising, though it isn’t any less frustrating.

Two women — who wish to remain anonymous — called W.W. Bridal Boutique to schedule a fitting for herself and her partner. She was reportedly placed on hold for several minutes, and then told, “Unfortunately she would not be able to schedule an appointment for us because they currently do not service same-sex couples — it’s just not something they do.” She was told that servicing a same-sex couple by selling them a couple of dresses would be a violation of their “religious beliefs.”

Wait. W.W. Bridal Boutique, a business, an inanimate object, has “religious beliefs”? Of course it doesn’t; the beliefs are those of the owner, Victoria Miller, who says that "providing those two girls dresses for a sanctified marriage would break God's law."

Now, the Bloomsburg Town council is involved, saying they will consider whether to propose legislation to ban businesses from refusing to serve gays and lesbians. Miller, for her part, spoke through her attorney to say that she has a "liberty interest" in refusing to take part in a process that would violate "firmly and honestly held religious beliefs."

Let me make this perfectly queer for you, Victoria Miller: you are not being asked to take part in the ceremony; you are not being asked to condone the wedding; you, naturally, would never be invited to the wedding. What you are being asked to do is to open your business, your public business, to everyone and to make a sale.

But if you don’t want money from The Gays then please post a sign in the window of W.W. Bridal Boutique that tells the world that you are a bigot and a homophobe and hiding behind some notion of religious belief in running your business. And please be ready to have The Gays and The Gay Friendlies take their business elsewhere. But do not, when your business fails because of your intolerance, complain that The Gays did this to you.

You did it to yourself.

via Raw Story

Kentucky Baptist Church Will Hold Its First Same-Sex Wedding

Color me stunned, but out there in Kentucky, a Baptist church, the Highland Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, in fact, has agreed to marry two of its gay members, making it the first same-sex wedding for the congregation. 

In.Kentucky.

Those two members, David Bannister Jr. and Steven Carr II, have been together for six years and became engaged last summer in Washington DC weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act.  Then they returned home to Kentucky and took a deep breath and asked the pastor of their church, Joe Phelps, to marry them and he said he would.

"It takes courage to step out into the unknown. It's taking us courage to be one of the first churches to do this." — Pastor Phelps

Phelps says that when he first came to Highland Baptist in the late 1990s, there was a kind of ‘doesn’t ask, don’t tell’ policy regarding gay church members. But, that very next year, a gay couple's photograph appeared in the church directory and since then there has been a slow, but steady march to acknowledge and accept LGBT members, and their families, into the church. In fact, Highland Baptist ordained its first openly gay minister, Maurice Blanchard in 2012, and now Blanchard leads a gay ministry at the church.

"Inch by inch, it sort of begins to dawn on us. Over time, we've come to the realization that led us to today." — Pastor Phelps

In February 2013, a group of church deacons began to study the idea of allowing the pastor to perform same-sex ceremonies, but the group never came to any agreement. Then, in May 2014, a new group chosen to once again study the idea instantly, and unanimously, recommended the church begin offering same-sex weddings.  Actually, you could only all it a unanimous decision because no one in the church every voted on the idea; Pastor Phelps said it wouldn’t be right to pass judgment that way.

"To vote on it is to basically ask the question, 'Are gay people fully human like the rest of us?' I think spiritually and morally, that's a step we cannot take." — Pastor Phelps

And so, when David and Steven asked Pastor Phelps to officiate at their wedding, he was able to say yes, making Highland one of the first Baptist churches in Kentucky to hold a same-sex wedding.

And again. Baptist Church. Kentucky. Let that sink in for a spell.

And so David and Steven have set a wedding date for next May, and though they don’t see themselves as activists, they have hope that their wedding will make a statement.

"If people don't get the shades pulled back on LGBT people's lives, they won't learn. They won't see. So the onus is on us and our friends to talk with those around us. It would be very sad to us if we weren't able to have our church involved." — David Bannister

And in light of the fact that this past week a judge struck down Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriages — a stay has been granted — David and Steven hope that by the time they marry, same –sex weddings in Kentucky, even at Baptist churches, will just be weddings at Baptists churches.

Still, what a wonderful stop for the Baptist church, and Kentucky.

via The New Civil Rights Movement