When Irish hang up No Gays Need Apply signs
Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 09:13 AM
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| Jim and Mary O'Reilly say they were fined for failing to 'support' gay marriage |
After all we the Irish were discriminated against for centuries in religious, social, political and even philanthropic contexts, so we ought to have learned about the sting and the reach of it.
We really ought to know the harm and mischief it can do to our neighbors, too.
Not Jim and Mary O'Reilly from Vermont's Wildflower Inn, apparently. In August they settled a lawsuit taken by a gay couple from Brooklyn after their business refused to host their wedding reception as well the wedding reception of two other gay couples.
The O'Reillys agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and put $20,000 in a charitable trust. They also agreed they would no longer hold weddings for heterosexual or homosexual couples at the inn.
But did they recognize that discriminating against the gay couple was wrong? Not exactly, if what they did next is any indication.
This week the Irish owners are campaigning on television against same-sex marriage in Maine, even though their previous discrimination cost them $30,000.
'A lesbian couple sued us for not supporting their gay wedding because of our Christian beliefs,' says Jim. 'We had to pay $30,000 and can no longer host any weddings at our inn.'
This is America, Jim and Mary, you are not running a Christian business, you are running a business. If you plan to provide the public with services and profit from the exchange there are good and longstanding laws to prevent you discriminating against who can and can not avail of them.
The people standing in your way are yourselves. In any case gay couples aren't trying to buy your approval, they are hoping to celebrate their union. It's not about you. Really it isn't. They didn't ask, as your TV ad erroneously claims, for you to 'support' their gay wedding, they simply wanted to pay you to host it at your venue, which is quite another thing.
Vermont was the first state to approve civil unions in July of 2000. Maybe the O'Reilly's should start looking for somewhere that's more accommodating to their own fundamentalist beliefs.
Possibly Afghanistan?
46 comments
bob mcbride | Oct 25, 2012, 05:45 PM EDT
I agree with the O'reilly's. They have their rights to practice their religious beliefs. The homosexual couple could,ve went to another flower shop! It does say adam and eve in the bible chair! Not adam and steve. I also don't believe in using taxpayers dollars to have gay pride parades. Quit pushing your homosexual believes down peoples throats and get on with it! Go get married and live a happy life somewhere! Beat it! Maybe the O'reillys should file suit against the homosexual lobby group. Gays are not normal and I will not accept it as normal!
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olovely | Oct 25, 2012, 05:40 PM EDT
ANYONE reading your post, iron justice, knows you don't know a whole lot about 'stuff.'
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alisaann | Oct 25, 2012, 04:21 PM EDT
they put themselves in the mess their in....they CAN'T blame anyone, but THEMSELVES for NOT being able to host ANY weddings at their business.....and for them to be irish and knowing how it felt to be discriminated against.....if their in the business of making $$$, then gays' money should be just as GOOD as anyone else's.
they make me SICK.
alisa
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hollabackgurl | Oct 25, 2012, 03:43 PM EDT
If it quacks like a duck it's a duck. Christ said let him who is without sin cast the first stone, so people who bash gays are not following Christs example and a poor Christians.
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eiriamach | Oct 25, 2012, 03:41 PM EDT
"because of our Christian beliefs"? Jim and Mary O'Reilly slander Christianity, which has no "beliefs" that support their discrimination. They have offered no "dissenting view," Smyrnian! They've only tried to give their bigotry a respectable name, and Christians ought to object and call their behavior by its real name.
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Smyrnian | Oct 25, 2012, 02:56 PM EDT
Holla - just because someone has a dissenting view does not mean that you hang a label on them. If you wish to argue a particular view then please do so without resorting to labeling; that tactic demeans you and sends the message that you have nothing of value to add.
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RedBranch | Oct 25, 2012, 02:41 PM EDT
With a name like O'Reillly they are obviously Protestants, probably 'soupers' and quite possibly Orangemen or Masons.
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mayoman | Oct 25, 2012, 02:34 PM EDT
Let's consider the matter if the situation was reversed. Mary O'Reilly travels to visit relatives, and books a room in a "gay-friendly" B&B, and on arrival she is told that there is no room for her in the inn because she's straight! Would O'Reilly be upset? Would she be angry? You bet she would be, and she would have every right to sue against the blatant discrimination levelled against her. So why is it different for gay people? Why is discrimination against them okay? Are they less human than straight people? Are thet second-class citizens? Thank God there are laws on the books that protect us all from this sort of abuse. Yet its really too bad that the O'Reillys feel it necessary to attack Gay Marriage. And its truly unfortunate that they are, like so many other people, cowardly hiding their hate for gay men and women behind their tender "Christian beliefs".
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olovely | Oct 25, 2012, 02:28 PM EDT
You have got that exactly backwards, misneac. If the O'Reilly's operate a public business they DON'T get to hand a sign saying no blacks, no gays, no Jews or which ever combination. They're a disgrace to their Irish ancestry.
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misneac | Oct 25, 2012, 01:40 PM EDT
So much for the Land of the Free,and the home of the Brave ! The OReillys are the people discriminated against ,they are entitled to run their own business in their own premises any way they wish ! As for the comment about booking a "Travellers " wedding in Ireland ,no problem if they obeyed the law .The proven reality is that they do not,and have created mayhem with damage to property ,and in some instances physical assaults on the proprieter ! Would all these do gooders who pontificate on what others should do ,please look after the social life of the gays and travellers !
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hollabackgurl | Oct 25, 2012, 12:43 PM EDT
Endlessly embarrassing to bigots, you mean. You don't have to be anti-Catholic to support full legal equality for gay couples - you just have to have a heart.
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Smyrnian | Oct 25, 2012, 12:04 PM EDT
Endless, embarrasing and blatant Irish Central gay advocacy. I am sick of the whole agenda. Get a life IC and spare us you leftist and anti Catholic rhetoric.
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BrianO | Oct 25, 2012, 11:42 AM EDT
I am offended by this article. where do I go to sue Cahir and not allow him to write his drivel or make a living.
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jamieLM | Oct 25, 2012, 09:27 AM EDT
I'm amazed that it didn't occur to this couple earlier of the possibility that a gay couple might try to book a wedding at their public inn and what the consequences would be if they refused to allow it. When one provides services for pay to the public, that means one can't discriminate against certain groups within the public. Isn't that in "Operating a Public Business For Dummies?"
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