Oh Joe ...
by digby
And then there's Joe Scarborough:
“I’m sure I’m going to get in trouble for this, but I’m sorry, everybody is marching lock-step. I wouldn’t do it, but at the same time, if somebody believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, I just wonder, where do their rights stop? I mean, can you no longer go into business as a florist in America if you believe that a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman is a sin? And I’m just asking a question.”
First of all, can we take a moment to celebrate the fact that manly men like Joe Scarborough no longer naturally assume that all florists are gay? Progress, people, progress...
But Joe should relax. It's a rare self-respecting gay person who would want to hire straight fundamentalist Christian florists for their wedding. Not that they shouldn't be allowed to, of course. Indiana's law is outrageous. But I have to admit that if I were planning a wedding I probably would not end up hiring straight people. Not that I disapprove of their "lifestyle", of course. I'm straight myself. But I'd want florists, caterers and bakers with a stylish aesthetic and I'm afraid that straight people generally just aren't up to par by comparison. A stereotype I know. There are probably some extremely creative straight Christian cake bakers in America. They all deserve a chance to compete for my business without the state enabling discrimination. But still, if I have a choice I'm going with the people who have taste and style and that's highly likely to be the gay person rather than the fundamentalist Christian straights. Sorry, just how it is.
But don't tell anyone. It's probably only a matter of time before some Federalist Society fellow cleverly brings suit on behalf of straight florists complaining that people are discriminating against them because of their sexual orientation.
.