PrairiePundit

Washington Examiner: Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke claimed religious organizations receiving tax benefits from the federal government should be required to "follow the law" when it comes to discriminating against gay and transgender people. Backtracking on his claim earlier this month that religious organizations should be taxed if they did not perform gay marriage, O'Rourke said churches and other religious nonprofits should maintain their tax-exempt status, but that they should be legally obliged not to discriminate against gay and transgender people. Citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, O'Rourke claimed on Sunday that regardless of religious values any organization should be required to adhere to the same laws meant to curb discrimination in housing, transportation, and employment. "They must follow the laws of this country, including the law that prohibits discrimination." "I want to make sure that we enforce those laws...

NY Times: Cake Is His ‘Art.’ So Can He Deny One to a Gay Couple? This fall, a Supreme Court case that pits a gay couple against a Colorado baker who refused to serve them will mostly center on the protections of free speech. I think the lead here mistakes the issue in the case.  It is my understanding that the baker would make them a cake, he just felt making a wedding cake for a wedding he had religious objections to was a bridge too far.  Similar cases have been used to ruin the businesses of people of faith just to push the liberal agenda of forcing people to accept conduct they see as deviancy.

Erick Erickson: This is a huge story. The United States Department of Justice has taken the side of Jack Phillips in his case before the United States Supreme Court. Phillips is a highly artistic baker in Denver who was asked to custom design a cake for a same-sex wedding. Phillips agreed to sell a cake, but declined to do a custom design citing his deeply held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and woman. The State of Colorado then decided to try to drive Phillips from business with one government official even comparing him to Nazis participating in the holocaust. This case is somewhat unique in that Philips was willing to reach a reasonable accommodation with the same-sex couple. He was willing to provide a cake. But Phillips was unwilling to use his artistic talents to promote same-sex marriage through his designs. That was not enough to placate the couple or Colorado. ... I do not think someone should be compelled to participate in an event they disapprove ...

Daily Caller: California Bans Students From Traveling To ‘Anti-LGBT’ States They apparently oppose students being exposed to those with a different point of view from that dictated by liberals.

Red States: Christian Dating Site Attacked By LGBT Activists And Suffers The Consequences I wonder why they picked Christian sites rather than "Farmers Only"?  No wonder there are so many people looking to leave California who can't wait to get to Texas.

NY Times: Judge in China Rules Gay Couple Cannot Marry The pair, Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang, had sued a civil affairs bureau in Changsha after the office refused to grant them the right to marry. Will Apple stop production of the iPhone in China?  Will PayuPal and others who have threatened to stop doing business with North Carolina now do the same with Chian?  Will San Francisco and New York ban travel on state business to China? I doubt it on all counts.  They are just engaged in moral preening over a law that will have zero impact on over 99 percent of the population.

Washington Times: PayPal, Apple lecture North Carolina, do business in countries far more hostile to gays It is a mistake for business to get involved in politica decisions where they will alienate as many potential custumers as those they support.  There are alternatives to their products and services and many people are likely to choose them.

David French: Let’s begin with two news items. First, in June the Walt Disney Co. will open a new, $5.5 billion theme park in Shanghai, China. China is a great place to make money, but it’s also the land of systematic human-rights abuses, forced abortions, state churches, labor camps, and brutal crackdowns. Disney — undeterred, and with its eyes firmly fixed on the financial prize — actually permits the Chinese government to co-own the park. Meanwhile, back in the United States — the land of political and religious freedom — Disney is threatening to scale back its operations in the state of Georgia, saying it is ready to halt film and television production at its Pinewood Studios outside of Atlanta. What heinous thing has Georgia done? Have Georgia National Guard armored vehicles threatened to roll over dissidents? Is it dragging women, screaming, into operating rooms to abort their children against their will? Is it confiscating political literature and censoring the Internet? N...

Washington Post: NFL suggests religious liberty bill could affect Atlanta’s Super Bowl bid Opponents of the Georgia bill, including hundreds of businesses, say it legalizes discrimination and could hurt the state's economy. This objection makes no sense.  The law would do nothing to effect the NFL's business.  They are just trying to push the liberal fascist agenda of the left.  As for the other businesses, it should not hurt them at all if some of their competitors in effect send business their way by refusing to engage in an activity they view as sinful.

Washington Examiner: Ben Carson slammed the politically correct culture he argued is destroying America during the GOP presidential debate on CNBC. Carson challenged the idea that his participation on the corporate boards of companies who may hold different ideological beliefs than his own is questionable. During the third GOP presidential debate, Carson pushed back against what he perceived to be political correctness. "Why would you serve on a company whose policies seemed to run counter to your views on homosexuality?" asked Carl Quintanilla, a CNBC moderator. "Well obviously you don't understand my views on homosexuality," Carson said. "I believe that our Constitution protects everybody regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and that there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you bel...

Leon Wolf: Kim Davis Should Have Declared Rowan County a Sanctuary City ... ... Democrats (and moderate Republicans) early rushed to the microphones across the country to condemn Kim Davis and to give us all a condescending civics lecture: “Listen, you crazy right wingers. Local officials can’t just decide they’re not going to comply with federal law because they don’t like the law. LAW OF THE LAND!” It turns out, this principle applies pretty much exclusively to same sex marriage, in the minds of Democrats. When it comes to immigration, Democrats (and moderate Republicans) are perfectly fine with local officials thumbing their nose at Federal law .... ... But we already know Democrat politicians are hypocrites on the rule of law.  They even voted against mandatory sentencing for criminal illegal aliens who return after being deported.

Washington Examiner: Obama warns: Gay rights supercede Constitutionally-guaranteed religious freedom This is one of the conflicts created by a bad Supreme Court decision on gay marriage which has no basis in the constitution.

Washington Post: ‘God’s authority’ creates thorny legal issue The question of protection for religious beliefs has emerged as a contentious topic across the country. This is a result of Justice Kennedy's empathy for homosexual couples overriding logic and constitutional principles.  As a result, the decision has become a vehicle for religious persecutions  that include the cake police and now public officials.  When it comes to the law imposing what is perceived as sinful conduct on religious people there will be an inevitable clash.

Reuters: Colorado appeals court backs gay couple in wedding cake dispute I blame Justice Kennedy for this injustice.

All Africa: Kenya: Nude Protest Against Homosexuality Awaits Barack Obama Next Week The 5,000 strong protest made up of both men and women will be an interesting greeting.

Tammy Bruce: As most of the world points,laughs and gives the headshake to Greece over its socialist-driven economic meltdown, Americans don’t need to look east to see the scourge of liberal policies. Look west to the state of Oregon, and you’ll see our very own fascist chaos wrapped in concern-troll self-righteousness that would make every failed leftist politician blush. The reason Europe is having such a hard time letting Greece go is because they’re loathe to admit the obvious — that socialist policies are crazy and destroy people’s lives. In Oregon, the legacy media would also rather look away, because it, too, highlights what you get when you let liberals do the thinking. If there was any clear condemnation of the inherent inability of liberals and big government to function it’s Obamacare. It now appears the Obama regime’s big success story was being able to hide the fact that the Healthcare.gov website was never really functional, its problems weren’t a glitch, and the ...

Daily Signal: Judge Who Declines to Do Same-Sex Marriages Says Civil Rights Struggle Inspired His Career His religious beliefs made it impossible for him to officiate at the wedding.  Some would impose choices on him that he would deemed sinful.  The left appears oblivious to religious concepts that have been part of religious faith for thousands of years.

NY Times: Hillary Clinton, Loudly and Proudly, Taps Into a Vein of Support Among Gay Voters Mrs. Clinton, who does not have the most cutting-edge record on gay rights, is making up for it now with a slew of events, including a fund-raiser in Provincetown, Mass. By themselves the gays are not a significant voting block and they are not monolithic  in their political preferences or even on the issue of gay marriage.  In the real world their issues are economic like everyone else's.  Making the election about their sex lives is a mistake.   The media has blown the gay marriage issue out of proportion with their celebratory coverage of the Supreme Court decision that is likely to be as divisive as the court's abortion decision.  That is what happens when you try to preempt democracy.

Houston Chronicle: Same-sex divorce filings follow historic U.S. marriage ruling  It is something I predicted when the Supreme Court decision was announced.

Kerry Jackson: Group That Protects Nazis Thinks Christians Are The Problem BTW, they also defend the KKK and will probably defend the Confederate battle flag.