Andrew L. Urban.
Love is not love, obviously, when a small activist minority of gay bullies intimidate a husband and wife publishing team into closing their business, as happened to Luke and Carla Burrell, the Christian publishers of White magazine. The international wedding magazine has been at the receiving end of a hate campaign because they chose not to feature gay couples. Those apalling, hateful bullies who frightened the staff and deterred advertisers, should perhaps have instead used their energies to start up a wedding magazine for gays; obviously there is a market there, with 5,000 gay weddings in the past year since same sex marriage became a legal thing.
Such acts of gangsterish intimidation cannot be allowed to continue in Australia. I don’t care who marries who, and I’m an atheist for god’s sake, but I am deeply disturbed that such civil disobedience is too easily ignored by political leaders and law enforcement. Isn’t it unlawful to intimidate on the basis of religious belief? And on the basis of intimidation causing financial harm?
If it isn’t stopped now, it will grow tomorrow. We saw the first seeds of such visible and tangible intimidation when Qantas issued special rings during the plebiscite to show the wearer supports for same sex marriage; if you didn’t wear one …. Now, law abiding people are hounded out of business. It would only take a spark of violence to turn this sort of confrontation into tragedy.
Where do we find protection from such ‘social justice’ bullies if not amongst our elected representatives and the law? I suggest the bullies be shamed and ridiculed for their intolerance and lack of empathy, their hypocrisy and their moral ugliness. But also charged with offensive behaviour, penalised in proportion to the losses they cause. Our democratic society depends on freedoms just like the ones trashed in this instance.