Grainger Co. shop owner that made headlines for 'No Gays Allowed' sign calls SCOTUS ruling a win

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I too dream of a day when Americans will no longer be persecuted for their belief in persecuting people

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NarrowlyDecidedHat Retweeted:

It’s circulating because he put the sign back up.

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Grainger Co. shop owner that made headlines for 'No Gays Allowed' sign calls SCOTUS ruling a win

The Supreme Court's ruling does not set a precedent at the intersection of equality, freedom of religion and freedom of expression. One East Tennessee shop owner calls it a win for Christians, but worries future decisions won't go the same way.

Author: Grant Robinson
Published: 10:57 PM EDT June 4, 2018
Updated: 8:21 AM EDT June 5, 2018

When the Supreme Court ruled making same-sex marriage legal in 2015, Jeff Amyx ensured everyone walking into his Grainger County hardware store knew his beliefs.

Nearly three years later after he made national headlines, a handwritten sign reading 'NO GAYS ALLOWED' is hanging on the shop's door once again.

[exboyfil]

1. It must be hell for the gay children that grow up

in this backwater county. i got to think this sign in many parts of the country including Iowa (at least the Eastern half) would ensure the closure of the business through lost sales.

[RKP5637]

3. I knew someone a long time ago that grew up in Iowa and fled to Washington, D.C when 18. He

said people just have no idea how hateful, ugly and backward some places are. And that frankly your life is endangered, that none know what it's really like unless they lived it.

[exboyfil]

4. I think it is has gotten better - at least in my suburban community

Very much a bedroom conservative Republican leaning community, but being gay did not seem to be a big deal either way for my daughters' peers. I am not saying it is perfect or right, but it is better than when I was a kid. That is what gives me hope.

[RKP5637]

5. Yes! Definitely it's getting far better than it was! n/t

[RKP5637]

2. IMO those christians that say their religion is under attack need to hold a mirror up and

take a good look at themselves. Many are disgusting and have ugly/hateful personalities.

[Runningdawg]

6. Part of me says as many

LGBT as possible should immediately walk into that store with a list of hardware supplies they intend to buy and take as long as they need to pick them out.

[exboyfil]

7. And then realize they left their credit card at home

and leave the store with the purchases in the cart. Encourage their straight friends to also be so forgetful.

[Runningdawg]

8. Exactly!

[LakeArenal]

9. How do they determine who's gay?

If I dress like their image of a gay person and went in there, what would they do? Me being straight , one marriage 43 years.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Did a Tennessee Hardware Store Put Up a 'No Gays Allowed' Sign?

Did a Tennessee Hardware Store Put Up a ‘No Gays Allowed’ Sign?

The store that put up the sign in 2015 was back in the news several years later when it celebrated a Supreme Court decision in favor of a bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

MOSTLY TRUE

WHAT'S TRUE

Amyx Hardware placed a sign reading "no gays allowed" on their front door in 2015; the sign was also on display following the Supreme Court's Masterpiece Cakeshop decision in June 2018.

WHAT'S FALSE

The sign was not initially displayed in response to the Supreme Court decision.

ORIGIN

The phrase “no gays allowed” was one of the top ten trending topics on Twitter on the morning of 7 June 2018, a few days after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado bakery that had refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding.

Those who clicked on this topic were greeted with a link to a USA Today article about a Tennessee hardware called Amyx Hardware and its policy barring gay people from shopping at the store. Many thought that the story was new because it was erroneously dated June 2018 rather than July 2015, when the story actually first appeared: