Crystal O’Connor, above, is fast becoming a poster girl for the religious right in America following news that her family has had to shut their Indiana pizza parlour which won’t do the catering for gay weddings.
Memories Pizza in Walkerton – the first Indiana business to declare it would refuse LGBT business – was forced to close after it got blasted on the Internet and by phone. An attack on the the company’s listing in the business directory Yelp was particularly amusing. Some wag posted the image below on Yelp:
The onslaught came after Crystal’s dad, Kevin O’Connor, praised Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and said:
That lifestyle is something they choose. I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they choose?
Crystal said she didn’t think that the Act was “targeting gays,” adding.
It’s supposed to help people that have a religious belief.
Kevin O’Connor later added that although he doesn’t “have a problem with gay people,” he does not condone same-sex marriage. Although he wouldn’t cater to a same-sex wedding, he wouldn’t turn anyone away from the shop itself.
He bizarrely added:
I mean, we don’t believe in murder. I also don’t believe in abortion.
He says the threats have been serious enough to force him to close the business … at least until the dust settles.
That decision immediately prompted someone called Lawrence Billy Jones III to set up an online appeal for funds for the O’Connors:
To relieve the financial loss endured by the proprietors’ stand for faith.
At the time of posting sympathisers had pledged over $62,000 in 12 hours, a sure indication that what Christian bigots lack in tolerance and common decency they sure make up for in cash. Their response to the funding campaign also supports a study that shows that religious people are less intelligent than atheists. (This is certainly borne out by British PM David Cameron’s Easter address to Christians).
One of the best comments the GoFundMe site was from Jenn Mills:
Ha what a joke. They are using God as a publicity stunt to get ‘Christians’ to donate money. Shameful. PS, what gay person (or straight person) would EVER have pizza catered at a wedding?? They have MUCH more class than that. lol Maybe that’s how they do things in Indiana, lol but gay people certainly have more class than that. PS, Using God to get money= Sinful.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn (Cameron report)