The sign in the store window | Photo: WBIR
A store owner in Tennessee put up a sign in his store window that says: ‘No gays allowed.’ The sign went up following the US Supreme Court’s decision to side with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple due to religious reasons.
Jeff Amyx, who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies, previously put the sign up in 2015. He put it up following the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision.
Following the sign, he began selling bumper stickers and baseball caps with the same slogan.
Amyx, who is also a Baptist minister, removed the sign following backlash. He replaced it with a sign reading: ‘We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of religion.’
Now, however, he’s put up the original sign once more as a celebration of the recent ruling.
Another sign in the store | Photo: WBIR
‘A shock’
‘I was shocked,’ Amyx told WBIR about the decision. ‘I was really shocked because of the track record of our Supreme Court.’
Despite his celebration, it’s important to understand the decision was extremely narrow.
The majority of Justices may have sided with baker Jack Phillips, but not on the basis of discrimination. Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion reaffirmed the equal rights of LGBTI people — to an extent — while coming down against hostility to religion.
