Ted Cruz: Gay business owners should be able to discriminate against Christians too

US presidential candidate Ted Cruz has said LGBTI-owned businesses should be able to discriminate against Christians and vice versa.

The Republican has made his campaign on defending ‘religious liberty’ and he held a rally in Iowa on Friday (21 August), where he brought out Christian business owners who had been ‘persecuted’ for turning away gay couples.

In an interview with Newsmax, Cruz said: ‘Imagine if this were inverted.

‘Imagine if there were a gay florist – now I know that’s hard to imagine, a gay florist – but just go with the hypo[thetical] for a second.

‘Imagine if two evangelical Christians came to a gay florist and they wanted to get married, and the florist said, “You know what? I disagree with your faith. I have problems with your faith.”

‘You have no entitlement to force that florist to provide flowers at the Christians’ wedding. We are a pluralistic nation that tolerates diversity.’

ThinkProgress notes that federal law suggests otherwise: ‘Religion is a protected class. If that hypothetical gay florist refused service on the basis of the customers’ religion, that would be a blatant violation, and he would be just as accountable for that discrimination as other vendors have been for discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.’

There are currently no federal protections for LGBTI people, but the Equality Act seeks to remedy this.

Watch the full interview below:

The post Ted Cruz: Gay business owners should be able to discriminate against Christians too appeared first on Gay Star News.

Darren Wee

www.gaystarnews.com/article/ted-cruz-gay-business-owners-should-be-able-to-discriminate-against-christians-too/

In Wake of Rentboy Arrests, Decriminalize Sex Work?

A statement by LGBT groups calling for such decriminalization was retweeted this afternoon.

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Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/lgbt/2015/08/25/wake-rentboy-arrests-decriminalize-sex-work

Rentboy.com CEO arraigned in Manhattan then defends his business outside court

Rentboy.com CEO Jeffrey Hurant defended his business Tuesday (25 August) hours after being arrested by federal authorities on money laundering and prostitution charges.

‘I don’t think that we do anything to promote prostitution,’ Hurant told reporters outside federal court in Manhattan. ‘I think we do good things for good people, and we bring good people together.’

The site’s Twitter account describes Rentboy.com as ‘The Original & World’s Largest Male Escort Site’ and has some 11,000 followers.

If convicted, Hurant could be sentenced up to five years in prison and fined up to $250,000. Six others were arrested as well.

According to the full criminal complaint, the company had more than $10 million in gross proceeds in the past five years. More than $1.4 million has been seized from six bank accounts in connection with the investigation.

Users of the site pay a minimum monthly fee of $59.95 to search for a rentboy or masseur on the site by country and city. Escort’s profile pages generally detail the sexual acts each escort is willing to perform and the price.

The criminal complaint calls the site’s disclaimer a ruse. It reads: ‘This site may not be used for the advertising of sexual services or to engage in activities requiring the payment of money for sex or other illegal activities.’

It details several profiles of male escorts which included reviews of their sexual performance and details about which sexual acts took place and how much was paid.

The complaint also mentions that Rentboy.com each year holds the International Escort Awards which are better known as The Hookies.

The post Rentboy.com CEO arraigned in Manhattan then defends his business outside court appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/rentboy-com-ceo-arraigned-in-manhattan-then-defends-his-business-outside-court/