Beware of Christian House Painters in England! Some of The Painters' Pastors Won’t Let Them Paint Our Gay Apartments or Homes Because We Are Gay!

Andrew Stillman, a reporter for out.com, reported on the plight of poor Josh, a 23 year-old gay man in the United Kingdom (UK), who was denied the painting services of a house painter because Josh is gay. You read this correctly. The painter refused to paint Josh's “flat” (apartment) because the painter's church’s pastor would frown upon him providing Josh that service. 

Sounds to me like someone has been watching what is going on in the great state of Colorado between bigoted wedding web-designers and homophobic bakers of fine wedding cakes.

From the article:

"The incident occurred when the decorator visited Josh's flat in England to offer a quote for a paint job. The meeting took an unpleasant turn when, during the visit, the painter inquired if Josh's partner was present, to which Josh replied that he was at work. This moment felt like a red flag for Josh, who noticed that the decorator didn't take any pictures of the space he was supposed to service.”

Interestingly enough, there is the United Kingdom’s 2010 Equality act, which explicitly forbids discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Nevertheless, the painter said he could not do the paint job because of “his Christian beliefs” and “recommended guidelines at my church.”

In the US, under the decision made by the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS), it would be around “expressive art,” like the wedding web-designer declared was the kind of work she did. 

Josh’s response?

"My jaw dropped open. Neither of us thought we'd be in a situation where this would happen to us and, to be honest, it was disgusting, disappointing, and baffling."

Josh and his partner plan to report this to the equivalent of a small business bureau/union association in the UK, in hopes of others not facing the same kind of discrimination based upon gender or sexual orientation.

Hat tip to my friend Mark McCurry for this article, found on out.com.

Here’s a link to the article: https://www.out.com/news/christian-painter-homophobia#rebelltitem1

As in the US, so it is in the UK. The new way to discriminate against those of us in the LGBTQIA2S+ community is by “religious freedom,” in which, if my “religion” says “I can’t hang out or do any work for someone who is LGBTQIA2S+, then I can say no to doing any work or service for you.” It is a new form of an old practice: discrimination.

Question: in the end of all four Gospels, who did Jesus discriminate against? 

Answer: No one.

End of sermon.



 

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