LEXINGTON, Kentucky, November 3, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – A Christian business owner who was targeted for not printing “Gay Pride” t-shirts is getting support from an unlikely ally: lesbian business owners.
“No one should be forced to do something against what they believe in. If we were approached by an organization such as the Westboro Baptist Church, I highly doubt we would be doing business with them, and we would be very angry if we were forced to print anti-gay t-shirts,” said Diane DiGeloromo, one of two lesbians who owns BMP T-shirts. “This isn't a gay or straight issue. This is a human issue.”
Issued by Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, DiGeloromo's statement was echoed by her business partner, Kathy Trautvetter. “You put your blood and your sweat and your tears into [your business]” and “it's very personal. … When I put myself in [Mr. Adamson's] shoes, I could see it from his side,” said Trautvetter.
Trautvetter and DiGeloromo are defending Blaine Adamson, owner of Hands On Originals, who since 2012 has fought both the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO) and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission for his right to decline to provide messages with which he disagrees.
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Adamson has refused to print shirts promoting other things he disagrees with – such as sexually explicit content, a strip club, and violence – and he referred GLSO to other companies that would provide shirts for the Pride Festival.
But while the group eventually got its shirts for free, it still sued Adamson, who has served and employed members of the LGBT community.
Speaking with Glenn Beck, the lesbian owners said they “haven't heard much from the gay community as of yet,” and they have “pretty much 99 percent positive response” to their decision to stand with Adamson.
DiGeloromo and Trautvetter also defended Oregon bakers who were targeted when they declined to make a cake for a same-sex “marriage.”
A Kentucky court ruled in favor of Adamson earlier this year, a decision the Commission has appealed. The Alliance Defending Freedom has taken Adamson's case; if he loses the appeal, he will have to print the shirts and attend so-called “diversity training.”