A Christian printer who was previously found guilty of
discrimination for refusing to print T-shirts for a gay pride parade won
big Monday after a court ruled that he can decline to print messages
that run in opposition to his religious views.
The Fayette County Circuit Court’s ruling overturned a previous
decision by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission,
finding that Blaine Adamson, owner of Lexington printing company Hands
On Originals, was within his rights when he declined to make shirts for
the Lexington Pride Parade, according to a release from Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal firm.
The court found that Adamson did not violate the law in citing his
religious convictions as the reason for the refusal, and that his
decision was based on his personal freedom not to be forced or coerced
to print messages that contradict his views.
“The court rightly recognized that the law protects Blaine’s decision
not to print shirts with messages that conflict with his beliefs, and
that no sufficient reason exists for the government to coerce Blaine to
act against his conscience in this way,” Alliance Defending Freedom
attorney Jim Campbell said in a statement.
He added, “In short, [Hands On Originals'] declination to print the
shirts was based upon the message of [Gay and Lesbian Services
Organization of Lexington] and the Pride Festival and not on the sexual
orientation of its representatives or members.”
As TheBlaze previously reported,
Adamson’s case began when he refused service to the Gay and Lesbian
Services Organization of Lexington and the organization subsequently
filed a complaint against Hands on Originals in March 2012, alleging
that he had discriminated based on sexual orientation.
But Adamson and his attorneys consistently argued that Hands on
Originals is a Christian business and that the views presented on the
T-shirts — which advertised a gay pride festival — violated his
religious beliefs; these arguments were initially dismissed.
Greg Munson of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission announced last fall that
Hands on Originals discriminated against the Gay and Lesbian Services
Organization of Lexington when it refused to print the shirts. A
recommended ruling at the time called for Hands On Originals to take two
specific actions.
“First is don’t discriminate against individuals because of gender
identity or sexuality,” Campbell told TheBlaze at the time. “If someone
else from [Gay and Lesbian Services Organization of Lexington] comes to
you for the pride festival, you have to [print again in the future if
asked].”
The second demand was that at least some staffers at Hands on
Originals — a company with around 30 employees — would need to
participate in diversity training within the next 12 months. Campbell
did note that Hands On Originals has both employed and served gays and
lesbians, but that when it comes to the messages presented on products,
Adamson draws a line.
“Blaine’s position is that he can’t print something if it conflicts
with religious convictions,” Campbell said. “Over the two years leading
up to this case, Hands On Originals had denied at least 13 orders all
for the reason [that] they didn’t want to print and convey the message
they were being asked to convey.”
He said that one of these orders was actually from a Christian
organization — a T-shirt that had a blood design on it; Adamson felt
that it was too racy, so he declined it.
In arguing for Adamson’s rights, Alliance Defending Freedom has
raised another related issue: if Christians like Adamson are forced to
print shirts that violate their religious beliefs, this would also mean
that gay and lesbian-owned businesses will be forced to print messages
from groups that they, too, disagree with — something the firm believes
violates the First Amendment.
“In America, we don’t force people to express messages that are
contrary to their convictions,” Adamson‘s co-counsel
Bryan Beauman of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC said
last year. “America should not be a place where people who identify as
homosexual are forced to promote groups like the Westboro Baptists and
where printers with sincere religious convictions are forced to promote
the message of the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization.”
This is the very issue that was also raised last year by
Kathy Trautvetter and Diane DiGeloromo, a lesbian couple who own and
operate BMP T-shirts, a New Jersey-based printing company.
Trautvetter told TheBlaze that she and DiGeloromo — who spoke with TheBlaze.com and appeared onThe Glenn Beck Program —
launched their part-time business back in 2003 when they began doing
graphic design and visual arts work for gay pride events.
Despite disagreeing on the finer details surrounding homosexuality,
they support Adamson’s right to defend his Christian views and his
business.
“The idea is that when you own your own business, it’s your own art
and creation — it’s very personal … it takes a long time to build a
business,” Trautvetter said. “When someone wants to force you to go
against it — that’s what stuck me right in the heart. I really felt for
Blaine.”
Election 2015: Christian Party launches manifesto
The Christian Party has launched its manifesto, entitled Promoting British Values.
Party leaders say it focuses on issues such as the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and British constitutional law.
The party is fielding nine candidates in the general election.
The manifesto covers 12 policy areas, including banking.
"Although everyone is talking about the deficit, we should be concerned about the nation's debt which has doubled in 10 years," it says.
"In recent years, legislation, government policy and court judgments have contributed to the tearing apart of our society's moral, relational and spiritual fabric, providing a seedbed for a host of problems.
"It is an inevitable consequence of turning our back on God's pattern for society - with huge ramifications."
Jeff Green, leader of the party, said: "We believe that unless we protect our hard-won freedoms - and they were hard won - unless we stand up for this, we see the culture of fear and intimidation continue across our nation and we can't allow that to happen."
The candidates standing in the general election are:
Jeff Green, Cardiff North
Dr Donald Boyd, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
John Cormack, Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Trevor Bendrien, Halifax
Juliana Brimicombe, Surrey Heath
Pastor Gabriel Ukandu, Birmingham Edgbaston
Laurence Williams, Old Bexley and Sidcup
Dominic Stockford, Twickenham
Gabriela Fajardo, Westminster North
BBC News
Todd's American Dispatch: Franklin Graham Defends Christian Bakery Persecuted By LGBT Activists, Govt.
By Todd Starnes, FOX NEWS
One of America's most respected Evangelical Christian leaders has come to the defense of a Christian bakery facing a fierce assault from militant LGBT activists and the government.
Franklin Graham has announced he will back a fundraising effort to help Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa in Oregon.
On Friday a judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after the Kleins refused to make them a wedding cake.
The Kleins have already lost their home. Now the government and the LGBT activists want to throw them out on the street.
Within hours of the ruling, the Family Research Council facilitated the establishment of a GoFundMe account to help the Christian family raise the money they needed to pay the fine. In less than eight hours, more than $100,000 was raised.
However, late Friday GoFundMe pulled the plug — sending this message to would-be donors:
“After careful review by our team, we have found the ‘Support Sweet Cakes By Melissa’ campaign to be in violation of our Terms and Conditions,” the message read. “The money raised thus far will still be made available for withdrawal.”
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said GoFundMe caved under pressure from gay activists.
Enter Franklin Graham.
He decided to let people donate to the Klein family through Samaritan’s Purse.
“The Kleins have already had to close their Oregon bakery business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa and do not have this money to pay,” Graham wrote. “Aaron said it would financially ruin their family and could cost them their home. They have done nothing wrong, and their lives, along with their five children, have been turned upside down by this persecution.”
Graham doubled down on his assertion that what is happening to the family is persecution.
“You can’t call it anything else,” he wrote. “This is wrong, and it’s happening right here in our own country. Liberal judges and officials siding with the LGBT crowd are trying to make a point with the undeserved punishment of this family. This is America—we should have the freedom to live by our sincerely held religious beliefs. It’s obvious who is really being discriminated against here.”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins blasted the harsh penalty levied against the Kleins.
“The state of Oregon has given a new meaning to shotgun weddings,” Perkins said. “You will be forced to participate in same-sex weddings and violate your beliefs.”
Perkins wondered what impact the Oregon ruling would have on religious freedom across the country.
“If Americans are not free to decline to be involved in a specific activity that violates their beliefs, then we are not free,” he said.
It’s not exactly clear what led GoFundMe to drop the fundraising drive - but Perkins blamed it on gay activists.
“This reveals two very important aspects of the redefinition of marriage, Americans are not going along with it and two - the intolerance of those trying to redefine marriage is historically unprecedented,” Perkins said.
Aaron Klein told me they will appeal the judge’s recommended fine.
“All Americans should be free to live and work by their faith without the fear of the government punishing them,” he told me.
Klein told me the gay rights activists won’t be satisfied until her family is living in a homeless shelter.
“This is not coming out of our business assets - the business has already been shuttered,” he said. “This is coming out of personal property. They want to take our house. They want to put us out on the street.”
Melissa told me the state of Oregon is trying to send a message to Christian business owners.
“They are trying to say — look what will happen to you if you decide to live by your faith,” she said. “They won’t be satisfied until we lose everything.”
The Kleins said they were incredibly moved by the generosity of their supporters.
And while they were disappointed that GoFundMe removed the campaign - they are not upset.
“If GoFundMe does not believe in our cause or what we are doing — that’s their right,” Aaron told me. “And that’s what we are fighting for. We should have that right, too. If it goes against our faith or beliefs we should be able to say we won’t do that.”
The Kleins also had kind words for Franklin Graham. They talked by telephone on Friday.
“A while ago Franklin told me that if I needed anything to give him a call,” Aaron said. “So I called him after the verdict. He said to not get discouraged — that God is good.”
I have one observation.
If a company like GoFundMe can decline customers based on their beliefs, why can’t a Christian-owned company decline customers based on their beliefs?
Foreigners Targeted in Massive Police Raid in S Africa. Scores of undocumented people arrested in stop-and-search mission in Johannesburg in bid to end anti-immigration unrest.
28 April, 2015
Police were joined by members of the South African Defence Force and immigration officials in the raids [Khadija Patel]
Police were joined by members of the South African Defence Force and immigration officials in the raids [Khadija Patel]
South African police have
arrested 50 "undocumented foreigners" in a massive stop-and-search
operation in two areas in Johannesburg, authorities have told Al
Jazeera.
The South African Police Services were joined by members of the South African Defence Force (SANDF) and immigration officials during the raids in Mayfair and Hillbrow.
"About 50 people were arrested for being without valid documents in the country," Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng police spokesperson, said on Monday.
"It was a stop-and-search operation... It was a normal, crime-prevention operation."
Earlier in the morning, local media reported the presence of up to 100 officials, including police officers, in the vicinity.
Rising anti-immigrant sentiment
The fate of the arrested immigrants now depends on whether they can prove themselves to have been in the country legally.
"Immigration officers are processing those who are arrested, and will ascertain who exactly is illegal or not, and from there they will be taken to the Lindela repatriation centre in order to be deported," Dlamini said.
Monday's raids come one week after President Jacob Zuma deployed members of the South African National Defence Force to quell violence in areas of the country that have experienced anti-immigrant unrest.
At least eight foreigners are said to have been killed in the past four weeks as violence spread from the seaside city of Durban to Johannesburg.
The SANDF refused to be drawn into commenting about the operation.
"The police determines which areas need to be dealt with. As you know, we are just a support system for the police," Siphiwe Dlamini, SANDF spokesperson, was quoted as saying by local media.
The raids on Monday came after rumours that foreigners in the city have been arming themselves in preparation for further violence.
However, police spokesperson Dlamini said no illegal weapons were found during the raids in Hillbrow and Mayfair.
Immigrants in Mayfair reacted with panic and confusion at the sight of police and army shoring off streets in the suburb to conduct its stop-and-search operation.
Unsettled
One foreign national, Ahmed Fifa, who took refuge in Mayfair after being displaced from the Ramaphosa informal settlement, east of Johannesburg, 10 days ago, said the arrival of the police and army had left the community feeling unsettled.
"People became afraid because they have problems from the police before," he said.
Researchers too said they were concerned by the inclusion of the army on such raids.
"Soldiers on the streets suggests that government is using very heavy force," said Gareth Newham, head of the Governance, Crime and Justice Division at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria.
"This is not a sight you want to see in a democracy."
In Mayfair, however, some foreign nationals said the presence of the army had actually deterred the police from the type of abuses usually associated with operations in these areas.
"The way they dealt with this operation was different," said Abdullah Hasan Ahmed, a 37-year-old resident of Mayfair.
He says that police officers who usually raid foreigners in Mayfair, demand to see documentation from foreigners without understanding the type of documents refugees hold in South Africa.
"There are a lot of people here who don't have identification documents because they have not been given these documents despite living here for years. They are not helped and then the police come asking for documents and they don't even know what documents to look for."
Completely legal
The legality of Monday's raids have been questioned by some commentators but experts say the police acted within the law.
ISS researcher Newham said it was not unusual for South African security forces to be targeting foreign nationals.
"Studies have shown that at least one third of police time is spent targeting foreign nationals, to find whether they are here legally or not," Newham said.
"This security operation has shown that the objective is not to build relations with other African nationals but rather it was meant to show South Africans that the force of the state, including the military, will be used to identify undocumented nationals."
Some immigrants, however, welcomed the raid to disprove stereotypes of criminality among foreign nationals living in South Africa.
Abdirizak Ali Osman, national secretary of the Somali Community Board of South Africa, said the raid was an opportunity to prove foreigners abide by South African law.
"We feel the police must come and search each and everyone because there is a lot of misconception about crime and drugs in this area. So the police and the army must come here and see how people are living here, and how they are abiding by the law," he said.
Police say the stop-and-search operations will continue in the rest of the city in the coming days.
"These operations are continuing and you will see them in other areas," Dlamini said.
The South African Police Services were joined by members of the South African Defence Force (SANDF) and immigration officials during the raids in Mayfair and Hillbrow.
"About 50 people were arrested for being without valid documents in the country," Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng police spokesperson, said on Monday.
"It was a stop-and-search operation... It was a normal, crime-prevention operation."
Earlier in the morning, local media reported the presence of up to 100 officials, including police officers, in the vicinity.
Rising anti-immigrant sentiment
The fate of the arrested immigrants now depends on whether they can prove themselves to have been in the country legally.
"Immigration officers are processing those who are arrested, and will ascertain who exactly is illegal or not, and from there they will be taken to the Lindela repatriation centre in order to be deported," Dlamini said.
Monday's raids come one week after President Jacob Zuma deployed members of the South African National Defence Force to quell violence in areas of the country that have experienced anti-immigrant unrest.
At least eight foreigners are said to have been killed in the past four weeks as violence spread from the seaside city of Durban to Johannesburg.
The SANDF refused to be drawn into commenting about the operation.
"The police determines which areas need to be dealt with. As you know, we are just a support system for the police," Siphiwe Dlamini, SANDF spokesperson, was quoted as saying by local media.
The raids on Monday came after rumours that foreigners in the city have been arming themselves in preparation for further violence.
However, police spokesperson Dlamini said no illegal weapons were found during the raids in Hillbrow and Mayfair.
Immigrants in Mayfair reacted with panic and confusion at the sight of police and army shoring off streets in the suburb to conduct its stop-and-search operation.
Unsettled
One foreign national, Ahmed Fifa, who took refuge in Mayfair after being displaced from the Ramaphosa informal settlement, east of Johannesburg, 10 days ago, said the arrival of the police and army had left the community feeling unsettled.
"People became afraid because they have problems from the police before," he said.
Researchers too said they were concerned by the inclusion of the army on such raids.
"Soldiers on the streets suggests that government is using very heavy force," said Gareth Newham, head of the Governance, Crime and Justice Division at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria.
"This is not a sight you want to see in a democracy."
In Mayfair, however, some foreign nationals said the presence of the army had actually deterred the police from the type of abuses usually associated with operations in these areas.
"The way they dealt with this operation was different," said Abdullah Hasan Ahmed, a 37-year-old resident of Mayfair.
He says that police officers who usually raid foreigners in Mayfair, demand to see documentation from foreigners without understanding the type of documents refugees hold in South Africa.
"There are a lot of people here who don't have identification documents because they have not been given these documents despite living here for years. They are not helped and then the police come asking for documents and they don't even know what documents to look for."
Completely legal
The legality of Monday's raids have been questioned by some commentators but experts say the police acted within the law.
ISS researcher Newham said it was not unusual for South African security forces to be targeting foreign nationals.
"Studies have shown that at least one third of police time is spent targeting foreign nationals, to find whether they are here legally or not," Newham said.
"This security operation has shown that the objective is not to build relations with other African nationals but rather it was meant to show South Africans that the force of the state, including the military, will be used to identify undocumented nationals."
Some immigrants, however, welcomed the raid to disprove stereotypes of criminality among foreign nationals living in South Africa.
Abdirizak Ali Osman, national secretary of the Somali Community Board of South Africa, said the raid was an opportunity to prove foreigners abide by South African law.
"We feel the police must come and search each and everyone because there is a lot of misconception about crime and drugs in this area. So the police and the army must come here and see how people are living here, and how they are abiding by the law," he said.
Police say the stop-and-search operations will continue in the rest of the city in the coming days.
"These operations are continuing and you will see them in other areas," Dlamini said.
Source: Al Jazeera
Muhammadu Buhari to Probe Sanusi’s NNPC'S Missing $20bn claim
President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration would probe the allegation of missing oil funds made by former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Sanusi had alleged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to pay $20 billion into the Federation Account.
An audit ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan and carried out by PriceWaterHouseCooper however found that the NNPC was only liable to refund $1.48billion.
Speaking on Sunday, April 26, 2015, however, Buhari said that he would conduct a fresh investigation into the claim.
“On
the issue of corruption, I heard that some people have started
returning money. I will not believe it until I see for myself,” Buhari said while receiving a delegation of All Progressives Congress (APC) members from Adamawa State at his campaign office in Abuja.
“You
all remember what the Emir of Kano talked about when he was the
governor of the CBN. He said $20bn not N20bn was unaccounted for; they
said it was a lie. Instead of investigating it, they sacked him. And God
in his infinite mercy made him the Emir of Kano. In any case, that is
what he wanted. And since this was documented, our administration will
take a look at it,” Buhari added.
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke recently claimed that the NNPC had begun refunding the $1.48 billion recommended by the audit.
'Jola Sotubo, Pulse
Xenophobia: South Africa Slams Nigeria After Envoys Recalled
Monday 27, April 2015
by The News Nigeria
“If this action is based on the incidents of attacks on foreign nationals in some parts of our country, it would be curious for a sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode for whatever agenda,” the ministry said, lamenting Nigeria’s “unfortunate and regrettable step.”
Taking aim at its rival for economic and political dominance in Africa, Pretoria said it had held off blaming Nigeria’s government when 84 South Africans were killed in the collapse of a church building in Lagos last year.
South Africa had also refrained from blaming Nigerian authorities for the “more than nine months delay” in the repatriation of the bodies “or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned, they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by our burial practice.”
The testy statement from Pretoria comes a day after Nigeria announced it was recalling its ambassador in Pretoria for consultations over “the on-going xenophobia” in the country.
South African President Jacob Zuma deployed troops last week to quell the violence in Johannesburg and the port city of Durban, which forced thousands of people from their homes over the past few weeks.
No deadly attacks have been reported in the past week.
The Nigerian foreign ministry said the attacks by mobs accusing foreigners of stealing their jobs had “created fear and uncertainty” among African migrants in “the former apartheid enclave.”
On Wednesday, the country’s junior foreign minister Musiliu Obanikoro summoned South Africa’s High Commissioner in Abuja to demand Pretoria take “concrete steps to quell the unrest”.
Obanikoro also demanded South Africa compensate the victims of the attacks.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans, Malawians and Mozambicans have been repatriated by their governments over the unrest, which has drawn fierce criticism of South Africans from Africans in other parts of the continent.
In its statement Sunday, South Africa’s foreign ministry hit back, reminding Nigeria of its own security shortcomings, as laid bare by the Boko Haram insurgency.
“We hope that the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram will someday be reunited with their families,” South Africa said referring to a group of students kidnapped in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok that have been missing for over a year.
by The News Nigeria
The South African
government reacted angrily Sunday to Nigeria’s decision to recall its
ambassador from Pretoria over a wave of mob attacks on African migrants
that killed at least seven people.
Pres. Jacob Zuma
“We are not sure which actions or behaviour of the South African
Government the Nigerian Government is protesting,” the South African
foreign ministry said in a statement.“If this action is based on the incidents of attacks on foreign nationals in some parts of our country, it would be curious for a sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode for whatever agenda,” the ministry said, lamenting Nigeria’s “unfortunate and regrettable step.”
Taking aim at its rival for economic and political dominance in Africa, Pretoria said it had held off blaming Nigeria’s government when 84 South Africans were killed in the collapse of a church building in Lagos last year.
South Africa had also refrained from blaming Nigerian authorities for the “more than nine months delay” in the repatriation of the bodies “or for the fact that when these bodies eventually returned, they were in a state that they could not be touched or viewed as required by our burial practice.”
The testy statement from Pretoria comes a day after Nigeria announced it was recalling its ambassador in Pretoria for consultations over “the on-going xenophobia” in the country.
South African President Jacob Zuma deployed troops last week to quell the violence in Johannesburg and the port city of Durban, which forced thousands of people from their homes over the past few weeks.
No deadly attacks have been reported in the past week.
The Nigerian foreign ministry said the attacks by mobs accusing foreigners of stealing their jobs had “created fear and uncertainty” among African migrants in “the former apartheid enclave.”
On Wednesday, the country’s junior foreign minister Musiliu Obanikoro summoned South Africa’s High Commissioner in Abuja to demand Pretoria take “concrete steps to quell the unrest”.
Obanikoro also demanded South Africa compensate the victims of the attacks.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans, Malawians and Mozambicans have been repatriated by their governments over the unrest, which has drawn fierce criticism of South Africans from Africans in other parts of the continent.
In its statement Sunday, South Africa’s foreign ministry hit back, reminding Nigeria of its own security shortcomings, as laid bare by the Boko Haram insurgency.
“We hope that the more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram will someday be reunited with their families,” South Africa said referring to a group of students kidnapped in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok that have been missing for over a year.
Regina Family Honours Survivors of Armenian Genocide
Suzanna Badalian is part of a small Armenian community in Regina. (CBC)
CBC News
Today millions of people around the world are observing the mass killings by the Ottoman Empire of Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1916. Canada recognized the mass killings as genocide in 2004.
One Regina family with Armenian roots is taking special care to continue the culture, traditions and stories of their history.
"It's so important for us because my grandfather, he's an Armenian Genocide survivor," Suzanna Badalian explained.
She said she will spend time Friday educating her children about what happened 100 years ago.
"To try to keep the history ... it's their history. And their story," she said.
More than 20 countries, including Canada, recognize the deaths of Armenians during the First World War as genocide.
Turkish authorities consider the deaths a legitimate military response to revolution and banditry.
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