East Tennessee hardware store puts up 'No Gays Allowed' sign

[savalez]

Source: wbir.com

Jeff Amyx, who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in Grainger County, added the 'No Gays Allowed' sign because gay and lesbian couples are against his religion.

Amyx, who is also a baptist minister, said he realized Monday morning that homosexual people are not afraid to stand for what they believe in. He said it showed him that Christian people should be brave enough to stand for what they believe in.

"They gladly stand for what they believe in, why can't I? They believe their way is right, I believe it's wrong. But yet I'm going to take more persecution than them because I'm standing for what I believe in," Amyx said.

Read more: http://www.wbir.com/story/news/local/claiborne-hancock-grainger-union/2015/06/30/store-puts-up-no-gays-allowed-sign-after-same-sex-marriage-ruling/29497621/

---

Did that Hobby Lobby decision open the door to this kind of crap?

[oldandhappy]

1. Stand for human rights, Tennessee folk

boycott!! Amyx has no idea the pain the gay community has taken from the anti-gay folk.

[olegramps]

84. It is exasperating that conservatives pick and choose what they want to object to.

It is ironic that they accept only certain laws in Leviticus while disregarding the rest. They claim they are followers of Jesus but reject his teaching. For example, "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go in, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter." Mt 23:13

[oldandhappy]

87. Amen, Gramps.

With ya all the way. Hmmm, multiple wives, cloven hooves, multiple sets of dishes, stoning people, lots of fun in the Old Testament. And then in the N.T., love your neighbor, pay your taxes, relationship not money -- !! Take care of yourself, olegramps. Stay sane!

[olegramps]

95. Its getting tougher every day to keep your cool.

[bluestateguy]

2. Lawsuit in 3...2...1...

nt

[onenote]

11. sadly, TN law doesn't prohibit discrimination in public accommodations

based on sexual orientation.

[starroute]

27. Does it have to ban it explicitly?

I checked this stuff out a few months back, and I'm a little vague on it at the moment. But basically, the laws on public accommodations come out of the same legal basis as net neutrality. And the principle in both cases is that if you present yourself as doing business with the public, you have to serve anyone who walks in the door. You can't pick and choose. You can't favor one group of customers over another.

Now, I know that applies to hotels and restaurants and such. I'm not sure whether it applies to hardware stores. But I strongly suspect it does.

[onenote]

30. Yes.

The law does not treat public accommodations as common carriers who are required to serve all comers. Ever seen the sign "no shoes, no shirt, no service"? It's legal as are many decisions to refuse to serve someone so long as it is not discriminatory based on one of the protected classifications in the Civil Rights Act (or in a state anti-discrimination law).

I should add that under English common law, which transferred over to the US, innkeepers were singled out for a special duty to receive all guests. But even that supposed duty was subject to exceptions and loopholes that allowed for discrimination -- an innkeeper could limit who it would serve to a particular class (i.e., only women, or only men, or, even, only whites). It was only with the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that hotels and inns were truly subject to a prohibition on discrimination.

[totodeinhere]

50. Getting anti-discrimination laws in effect in all states will be the next big battle.

Plus we are going to have to fend off all of these so-called religious exemption laws. The fight isn't over.

[onenote]

65. +1

[d_legendary1]

90. Its the year 2015

and people are still not created equal. Something is definately wrong with us as a nation.

[RKP5637]

97. The US has a lot of problems just looking at how women have to battle for rights. In many ways

the US is a very hostile nation. Any not seeing that just have not experienced it. All types of people have had problems in the US since day one. It is no nirvana. Yes, "Something is definitely wrong with us as a nation."

[Change has come]

16. Or a poorly thought out GoFundMe attempt

in 1...2...3...

[christx30]

37. +1.

That's why I say to ignore this idiot. He's an opportunist looking for a pay day. The outrage generated by him is what he's counting on to fuel his retirement. Best thing to do is to give him a "that's nice, dear" and ignore him. Or, if you want to rile him, go do business, and just before you leave, say, "by the way, I'm gay. Have a great afternoon."

[PersonNumber503602]

96. Oh man, you're probably right. I bet that's where this is heading.

Sadly he'll probably end up making money too.

[shenmue]

3. He doesn't want the gay folk to have paper clips, duct tape and hammers?

Why is he so cruel?

[savalez]

4. And how exactly is he being persecuted?

By making money?

[shenmue]

6. Uhhhh

The Dumb.

It waits.

[hibbing]

9. I just don't get it

The obsession about homosexuality by these nutjobs is baffling to me.

Peace

[RKP5637]

98. Some people have to have something to hate. It is their essence in life, hatred. LGBT is an

easy target. They cloak their hatred with religion so as to practice their hatred under the guise of religion. They are the personification of evilness. Whenever I hear anyone is religious all of my red flags go up, because I do not trust religious people until proven otherwise.

[JudyM]

91. That's their new meme... That anti-lgbt folks are going to be victimized for being bigots

... When they'd really not... Or so they claim. It is just laughable. Listen, when you stop discriminating so will we, it's that simple. They've gotta have something to bitch about.

[jmowreader]

5. It's possible to know a gay roofer by sight? Who knew?

[davidpdx]

29. Maybe the owner is afraid someone will get their claws into him

haha claws....hammer

[PaddyIrishman]

66. I blame the Village People

For including a construction worker in their line up.

if it wasn't for them, it would never have occurred to him to ban gay people from his hardware store.

Damn you Village People, Damn you to hell!

[IDemo]

88. Homophobes all have gaydar

Ask any of 'em.

[greendog]

7. He's lookin' for some ez money.

Like the "no pizza 4 gay wedding" folks.

[Chakab]

25. Beat me to it. There will be a GoFundMe page up by the end of the week.

[hollysmom]

8. nice that he put up a sign,now you can tell where not to shop.

[davidpdx]

31. Well that might be the solution if someone hasn't already thought of it already

(in which case I wouldn't be surprised). To compile a list of businesses by state and city that choose to openly discriminate against gays and make it public. I bet someone has done that already though.

[kimbutgar]

10. Let the law of unexpected consequences occur

[radhika]

12. So how would this work at the shop door?

Ask every person entering the store what they do for sex?

Or request a demo, video from the last encounter - or some stereotype test based on film or cultural familiarity.

[Gregorian]

36. Pretty easy: Are you watching, or have you ever watched Julian Clary.

If so, get yer pipe wrench somewhere else.

[rpannier]

13. I guess he's unfamiliar with the difference

Standing up for something you believe in that elevates others (or yourself) into the community is good
Standing up for something you believe that relegates others to 2nd class citizen is wrong

I'd say I hope he goes under
But, if he went out of business, he'd find enough stupid donors to give him 800k

[Leith]

14. He Should Add a Few More Undesirables to the Sign

No:

fornicators
people who dance
drinkers
adulterers
apostates
nonChristians
divorced and remarried people
clothing made of 2 different materials
shellfish eaters

Aaaaaaand.... there goes almost every customer.

[HFRN]

17. and people who square dance in a round house

which is completely unacceptable

[savalez]

18. Wait a minute!

Many "Christians" are all those things.

[douggg]

19. No Catholic priests or evangelical

ministers.

[RufusTFirefly]

23. You forgot menstruating women!

And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.-- Leviticus 15

[mwooldri]

39. Well - Joseph Ducreux's not welcome either...

[calimary]

53. No football either. Remember, Leviticus says one must never touch pigskin.

[rpannier]

56. tattoos

don't forget those heathens

[yardwork]

73. Has he ever cut his hair? Uh oh.

[sarge43]

74. Don't forget people with tattoos, probably eliminate the rest n/t

[YOHABLO]

15. Well I guess if you're LGBT you'll have to wear a pink triangle on your front and back (?)

Straight people don't possess gaydar.

[brett_jv]

48. Not trying to nitpick, but ... isn't 'gaydar' kinda ... I dunno ... universal?

As in, anyone ... really ... could have a pretty good sense of it?

I mean, of course, presumably ... gay peoples' gaydar would be more 'finely tuned' sure, but ... I don't think being straight completely obviates the possibility of having a fairly solid detection capability.

It would probably depend a lot on how much 'experience' one has amongst the 'community'. And plenty of us 'straights' ... have plenty of ... that

Now, some random family hardware store owner from Tennessee who puts up a 'No Gays Allowed' sign in his store? Yeah ... you're right, probably an example of a person with a rather 'crude', at best ... gaydar. For sure.

But it's not really fair to say that NO straight people have a gaydar. That's STEREOTYPING!!!!11!!!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. Where did it say that Jesus didn't like Gay people?

[AleksS]

21. Or, even more to the point, where did it say that

Or, even more to the point, where did it say that Jesus wouldn't associate with sinners?

I mean, wasn't his whole thing pretty much that he DID hang out with sinners?

[Chakab]

28. Nowhere. It's written in the Old Testament along with that other garbage like not mixing fabrics and

not eating shellfish that these same "righteous" Christians completely ignore.

[daleanime]

35. +1

[lobodons]

49. Jesus seemed to be fine with Prostitutes

Didn't know Jesus was all judgmental and discriminatory when dealing with various people and groups. But at least Prostitutes are welcome in Amyx's store.

[SheilaT]

22. My first thought is that at least this guy is being totally open about

his prejudices. If I were gay, of if I were simply someone who believes in equality I now know one specific store I'll never go to again.

[yardwork]

75. How would you feel if the sign said no blacks allowed?

That's the problem with just letting this go.

Would it be ok if he posted a sign denying service to Jews?

Maybe he'll decide it's against his religion to serve women next. Or Hindus.

We all pay the taxes that maintain the infrastructure for his business. He counts on roads for the trucks that deliver his stick. He counts on police protection. The fire department will respond to a call at his business. Everybody in the county pays for that.

[SheilaT]

77. All of them are wrong.

what I'm trying to express is that I'd rather not give any of my business to anyone who wants to discriminate against any particular group.

[yardwork]

81. I understand and agree with that, but what next?

See my post #80 down thread. As a country we have to figure out how to deal with this.

[SheilaT]

92. It is a real issue.

And there's no easy solution.

I happen to be a garden-variety heterosexual older (age 66) white woman, so there's a huge amount of overt or covert prejudice that's going to be directed at me. Back when the first civil rights movement came about to fight against racial discrimination, it was a huge shock to the owners of restaurants and the like that they had to now serve people they thought undeserving of service. This same protection, in all areas, must be extended to everyone. Period.

Meanwhile, if I find out someone is open about their opinion of various groups, I will happily avoid them and encourage others to do the same.

In a similar way, I have not shopped at WalMart in about twenty years. I tell my liberal/progressive/Democratic friends they should not shop there either. Alas, it's almost impossible to avoid doing business with every single company out there with right-wing affiliations.

[Cha]

24. Damn that's harsh.. freaking bigots gotta hate.. freaking idiots.

[chillfactor]

26. this bigot is going to learn...

that some people he does business with are gay or lesbian....and he is not going to like it.....he is going to have a rude awakening.....

[Cosmocat]

63. Simple minded dip

By what I read, even if in todays bizarre world this overt act of bigotry will get him his 15 minutes.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

79. If he lost some major contractor I would ROFLMAO!

[eggplant]

32. Attention seeker, or cagy marketer? Place your bets.

He only hates gays enough to put up the sign *now*? Because married gayfolk are somehow even more threatening to him? Yea, right.

I call opportunist.

[daleanime]

33. I for one am glad to see him standing up for what he believes in.....

other people's sex lives. Have to wonder if he's standing up for taping also.

[Behind the Aegis]

34. True to form and quite expected.

He is open and honest about it. He leaves no question as to his motivations or his hate. Others do it in a more subtle, "are they/aren't they bigots" way. This isn't even a shot across our bow.

[lancer78]

38. I live 20 minutes from this place

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on Friday. This area is one of the reddest in the nation. I think PBO only got 20% of the vote.

[Geronimoe]

40. Idiot Alert

How can he discern a customer's sexual orientation?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

41. This looks like a job for an interior decorator.

[Liberal Veteran]

42. Damn it! Now where will I buy a gay hammer?

[kcdoug1]

43. so...

what amount is this loser's go fund me account up to now?

[Betty Karlson]

44. Yes, Hobby Lobby did open the door for this nonsense.

It's why it was such a bad precedent to set. Remember: that too came from the Supreme Court.

[Hulk]

45. Seeking that pity party of fox-nonsense...

And of course they'll be sued, and they'll start a money raising campaign to pull their bigoted asses out of debt. This is what they do. Remember those idiots in Indiana, or wherever that was, that "wouldn't serve pizza to a gay wedding", which I'm sure was a staple of their pathetic dying business. Well, they made out like bandits. Disgusting low life parasites.

[chknltl]

46. Can we do a "Preemptive strike"?

It's late and my brain is getting fuzzy but this thought made me chuckle: Maybe DU could send this Mr. Amyx (via special delivery to his shop) a dildo shaped pizza. (Hell, the notion might just catch on.....it would be sorta like the DU version of the Flying Fickle Finger Of Fate Award)

[calimary]

54. Oh MAN - I love this idea!

The DU Flying Fickle Something-Or-Other Of Fate Award!

[higherarkies]

62. phallus

Flying fickle phallus of fate.

~OR~

Phlying phickle phallus of phate.

[chknltl]

85. It has 2 b made of pizza

DU gives out pizzas to disruptors.

[SoapBox]

47. And is he going to give each customer a litmus test for the gay?

I think some of our fun loving straight friends, should fuck with this dumbass...let him "prove" that customers are gay.

[bvf]

59. Shit, I'd just flat-out ask him what his "test" was.

and immediately fake an audible cellphone call to my non-existent partner:

"Hey, Steve, ditch the pastels when you run errands this afternoon--he knows!"

[brett_jv]

61. I'm pretty sure that the proper spelling is 'teh gay' ...

Or 'teh ghey' or 'teh ghay' ... ya know, if you want to make the person 'saying it' ... look REALLY dumb.

Which may well apply in this case.

[David__77]

51. I wonder if this is the same person...

http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/sullivan-county-man-charged-with-tenncare-fraud/article_7f294575-45a7-5a96-b6e7-dc49ce7237d5.html



A Sullivan County man is charged with TennCare fraud for filling prescriptions written for him, but using his son’s TennCare to pay for it.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG), with the assistance of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, today announced the arrest of 37-year old Jeffrey A. Amyx, Sr., of Kingsport. He is charged with seven counts of TennCare fraud and seven counts of identity theft.

Charges against Amyx say that on seven separate occasions, he used his son’s TennCare card and social security number to pay for prescription medication. At the time he was indicted, he was serving jail time in Virginia on unrelated charges, and was transported to Sullivan County, Tennessee, when Virginia released him.

...

[muriel_volestrangler]

57. OP is Grainger County; that's Kingsport, Sullivan County

The Hardware supply business seems to be in Washburn, and says it's been there since 2008, so I doubt it's the same guy.

[brett_jv]

69. I guess there's a lot of Jeff Amyx's in that part of the world (n/t) ...

[Warpy]

52. I suppose I'd go to a big box store instead, then

I'm straight but I sure as hell wouldn't go to his store.

Fucking idiot needs to find out there's a difference between his pulpit and his checkout stand.

[Geronimoe]

55. Apparently he'll sell to you if you are a....

murderer, rapist, whore, prostitute, pedophile, divorcee, thief, polygamist, masturbator, or even a terrorist.

The merchant doth protest too much.

[leftynyc]

58. Looking for wingnut welfare

Business is probably in trouble and he's looking for the bigots to bail him out with one of those gofundme things.

[Little Tich]

60. Moran. n/t

[barbtries]

64. everyone of good will

has the right to shop elsewhere. i hope this small minded bullshit ruins his business.
how's he going to know? will he be routinely asking every person who enters his business what is their sexual orientation?
i'm so tired of these haters - especially rationalizing their hate by saying they're too christian!! such bullshit.

[negoldie]

67. Persecuted

are you? Move to Iran or Saudi Arabia and enjoy some of their form of persecution. Idiot.

[Cryptoad]

68. wonder if he has

a probe that tells him who is gay and who isn't?

[brett_jv]

70. Well of COURSE he does ... doesn't everyone? How could one realistically get thru life w/o?

Didn't you receive your Gaydar Probe [R] Device-thingie at your Christening ... like the rest of us proper folk?

No?

ZOMG .. I wonder what that might mean ...

[peacebird]

71. This is great! All businesses should post signs, that way we know where not to shop!

As it is, I have to avoid any store that has that fish logo, which may unfairly penalize Christians with open hearts.

[yardwork]

76. That sounds ok at first but then what next?

Is it ok again to deny service to black people? Jews?

We've been through this before. Businesses that serve the public don't get to discriminate against entire groups of people. No shoes? It's fine to deny services to individuals, but not entire groups of people.

Unfortunately, it's legal to discriminate against gay people in TN.

[peacebird]

78. As I said, at least we would know what businesses NOT to support. It is the only positive I have.

I do not support discrimination of any sort. We must pass anti discrimination bills that include GBLT folk. Until then - I never eat Chik Filet, and I boycott all stores and services that post that fish logo.

[yardwork]

80. I understand and I'm not saying that you support discrimination.

This is s genuine question I'm posing.

As a country we have to figure out how to respond to this. A lot of people are now claiming a religious freedom right to discriminate against an entire group of people.

It's tempting to ignore them, but is that the right approach?

As s gay person, I don't want to be confronted with signs and denial of service. I don't want to make martyrs out of these people either.

This is a heated area of discussion among gay people and straight people alike. There is no consensus on how to handle this.

[Politicub]

72. Good example of why non-discrimination laws are important

It's the next battle in the war for equality. It's seems like sexual orientation would be a non-starter for selling someone a can of paint.

There are no protections for LGBT Americans in many states when it comes to employment, housing, accommodations or commerce.

If you are a business that benefits from roads to get your customers to the front door, police to keep you safe and a legal system to protect against fraud, you ought not be able to discriminate against an entire class of people.

It's going to get worse until it gets better. Gay marriage in effect kicked a hornets nest of bigotry and this business owner is part of the swarm.

[fasttense]

82. When these supposed Christians start putting up signs saying NO Adulterers and Liars

Then I'll believe they Really consider being LGBT is a sin. They don't treat it like any other sin. I never see rallies against liars or Adulterers.

No it has nothing to do with sinning, and everything to do with power and control.

[blackspade]

83. Well, at least one knows were NOT to shop.

Bigoted asshole.

[Sparhawk60]

86. I Wish I Owned a Near By Hardware Store

I strongly support the right of ALL my competitors to refuse service to gays...blacks, women, Irish, you name it. I wonder if this loon thinks he is really sticking it to the Gays?

[yellowcanine]

89. I have heard of gaydar but never thought it was that reliable.

Is there a gay way of buying roof shingles?

[Sparhawk60]

93. Maybe Ask for...

Maybe ask for rainbow colored shingles? On second thought, a rainbow colored roof would be cool to have.
I think the guy is just pandering to his bigoted customer base.

[PaddyIrishman]

94. No Gays Allowed

To quote JD from the movie "Heathers"

Well they, uh, seem to have an open door policy for assholes though, don't they?