In a 4-3 opinion, The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Phoenix-based Brush & Nib Studio, a small business that refused to produce wedding invitations for LGBTQ couples.
“The rights of free speech and free exercise, so precious to this nation since its founding, are not limited to soft murmurings behind the doors of a person’s home or church, or private conversations with like-minded friends and family," wrote Justice Andrew Gould for the majority. "These guarantees protect the right of every American to express their beliefs in public. This includes the right to create and sell words, paintings, and art that express a person’s sincere religious beliefs. (Phoenix New Times)
“No Jews, No Blacks, No Catholics No Dogs,” signs on properties in Pittsburgh suburb’s back in the 1950s and 1960s. “Colored Only Bathrooms, Colored Only Sinks, Colored Entrance Only, No Colored’s Served,” signs in the South in the 1950s 1960’s and early 1970s. “Mexicans are Rapists” People of Color come from Cesspool Countries,” phrases mentioned in the mid 20 teens. “Gays should be murdered or locked away, or thrown off of a building,” Evangelical speeches in 2019. Any employer, whose own personal Jesus, hates the LGBTQ, has the right to fire them at will, so say the Evangelical American Christian Taliban, and so will hear this beck and call from these, America is both a White and Christian Nation, the Supreme Court, two Justices of which Sexual Harassment charges have been levied against, and yet to this day have still been unanswered by a real investigation, and not one shamefully held by intimidated misogynist males.
The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the Gay Rights Movement in the United States and around the world!
I have had 40 some years of living in the closet, 69 years as a Jewish man, 69 years as an American. I have permitted the phobia and bigotry against me, my religion, my friends of color, and my sexuality run rampant, for at least half of my life. I have read the Constitution, studied history, lived a life of secrets, and fear. I have been a victim to homophobia by powerful wealthy Jewish men and women, never fighting back, but pretending that if I move on, the past will fade in oblivion. It IS OBVIOUS, that every single definition of hate, bias, bigotry, bogus and insecurity we thought was swept under the rug, has piled up, so much so, that the rug is torn and tattered, and the shit beneath is now the stuff upon which we are walking. NO, NOPE, NOT AGAIN! This Supreme Court ruling in Phoenix is the not the first shot of Fascism coming to America disguised as Theocracy, but for me, it IS the last shot. I am and will RESIST, I will NOT REMAIN quiet, ever again. I will give no leeway to stupid old people set in their ways, or pay to pray religious bigots pretending they are God, or ANYONE, who hints, suggests and lies that it is God making them hate, when in fact it is there in inadequate nurturing by their parents and families who have decided to play God with my life. I will be ready for the REVOLUTION, and never be Silent NEVER!
