June is LGBT Pride Month, and Sunday was a day of celebration and protest for many in #Pride2017 parades across America.
None of us are free until ALL of us are free. RT if you agree! #Pride2017 #NYCPride pic.twitter.com/0QcbkXDEC9
— Women’s March (@womensmarch) June 25, 2017
Black queer & trans people started this movement #Pride2017 #PrideTO #BlackPride pic.twitter.com/hnE12UTb7h
— BlackLivesMatter TO (@BLM_TO) June 25, 2017
So this happened on the way home from the beach #BlackLivesMatter #Pride2017 pic.twitter.com/cRuHXZsWHc
— Kori Handy (@Korihandy) June 25, 2017
The fight for respect and equal rights for gays and lesbians has, however, occasionally been co-opted by anti-Christian bigots who target individuals’ businesses and threaten them with violence.
Here are five examples of bullying and shaming directed at Christians for their beliefs:
Teacher Gets Death Threat, Resigns For Quoting Bible Verse
A teacher in California resigned in May following backlash to an op-ed he published in the school paper where he quoted the Bible.
The former San Luis Obispo High School special education teacher, Michael Stack, wrote a column for the school paper where he expressed his belief that in Christian teaching, engaging in homosexual acts was a sin.
The column was not combative or hateful at all. He began the letter by stating, “I love the staff and students at SLOHS. My students know that. But I love God more, so in obedience to Him, I am writing this letter.”
And in the letter, he wrote that he shared his views, “in order to lift up those who have stumbled, or may stumble, and put you back on the right path.”
His letter ended by saying, “I pray you each have a great summer, a wonderful life, and a perfect eternity. Love, SLOHS Teacher Michael Stack.”
The backlash to Stacks’ letter, however, was swift.
Heidi Harmon, the mayor of the city, wrote on Facebook, “This is unacceptable,” saying, “A teacher at SLO High wrote this shaming letter against the LGBT community — a community that already has a high degree of suicide.” Dozens of protesters showed up at the school.
Later, someone called the school and threatened to kill Stack.
He resigned that afternoon.
Memories Pizza Bullied And Attacked For Christian Beliefs
In a now infamous incident from 2015, a Christian-owned pizzeria in Indiana called Memories Pizza was bullied and received death threats after the owners wouldn’t cater a gay wedding due to their Christian beliefs.
“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no,” Crystal O’Connor said to a reporter from ABC 57.
Memories Pizza also said they wouldn’t deny service to gay people, only that they wouldn’t want to participate in a wedding.
After then-governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a debate over religious freedom and antigay discrimination raged.
Some liberal journalists falsely reported that the restaurant was planning on denying service to gays and lesbians, and after the owners received death threats and threatening phone calls, the shop temporarily closed down. (RELATED: Report: Owners Of Indiana Pizzeria Opposed To Gay Marriage Receive Death Threats)
A GoFundMe page set up for the owners ended up reportedly raising over $840,000, and the shop re-opened.
Brendan Eich Bullied Out Of His Job For Supporting Prop 8
Brendan Eich, cofounder of the tech company Mozilla and inventor of Javascript, became a target in 2014.
After Eich was named CEO of Mozilla in 2014, he was attacked by some because he donated $1,000 to a pro-Proposition 8 group in California in 2008. Proposition 8, which passed but was later struck down in court, ended same-sex marriage in the state of California.
Eich wrote a blog post addressing concerns over his donation that occurred almost five years ago, where he committed to, “equality in everything we do, from employment to events to community-building,” and “Working with LGBT communities and allies, to listen and learn what does and doesn’t make Mozilla supportive and welcoming.”
“I am committed to ensuring that Mozilla is, and will remain, a place that includes and supports everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, economic status, or religion.” he wrote.
Yet, three Mozilla board members resigned after his new position was announced, and he faced criticism in the media. The dating site OkCupid also stirred up a boycott of Mozilla’s Firefox browser.
Eventually, Eich stepped down as CEO.
You know what? Fuck Brendan Eich. I hope Mozilla recognizes their mistake and appoints a decent human being CEO. http://t.co/8x8L5eGp5Y
— Nelson Minar (@nelson) April 2, 2014
BuzzFeed Publishes Hit Piece On Chip And Joanna Gaines
Last December, BuzzFeed News published an article about Chip And Joanna Gaines, a Christian couple with a popular television show on HGTV called “Fixer Upper.” The article reports that they belong to a church called the Antioch Community Church, which defines marriage as between “one man and one woman” and calls homosexuality a sin.
The piece received backlash, with The Federalist writing a story titled, “BuzzFeed Wants To Destroy Chip And Joanna Gaines For Being Christian And Wildly Popular,” and the Washington Post publishing a piece arguing “BuzzFeed’s hit piece on Chip and Joanna Gaines is dangerous.”
The point of the story was presumably to point out the couple’s Christian beliefs, forcing a them to explicitly say if they are in support of gay marriage or not. If they said they weren’t, then the obvious next step would be for calls to cancel the show, thus destroying their success.
HGTV responded to the story by saying, “We don’t discriminate against members of the LGBT community in any of our shows. HGTV is proud to have a crystal clear, consistent record of including people from all walks of life in its series.”
Celeb And Big Corporate Backlash Against North Carolina
After North Carolina governor Pat McCrory signed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act into law last year, which mandated that in public buildings and schools one must use the bathroom that corresponds to their birth gender, it faced a corporate boycott campaign.
A number of public figures and companies boycotted or otherwise shunned the state, including Bruce Springsteen, Maroon 5, the NBA, the NCAA, and PayPal.
The Obama Administration sued the state.
The rule on bathroom use was rescinded in a new bill signed by the new Democratic governor Roy Cooper this April.