***Update*** (9:30p): The owner of the store has updated his sign.

…

There are some Christians who use the “love the sinner, hate the sin” line — which is bad enough — and then there are Christians like Jeff Amyx.

He’s the owner of Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in east Tennessee and this is the sign he put up on his door:

“No Gays Allowed.”

Not “We oppose the Supreme Court’s decision,” but no gay people allowed into his store at all.

(As if all gay people wear giant signs explaining their orientation so he can tell who to kick out.)

“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. He said he has no plans to take the sign down.

Unlike bakers and florists who hide their bigotry under the cloak of “conscience” and who say they’ll serve gay customers but don’t want to “participate” in their weddings, this is just naked hatred.

Amyx, a Baptist minister, wants no interaction with gay people in his store, like they’re going to turn him homosexual if they get within two feet of him.

You might think that sort of discrimination is illegal, but Tennessee as a state doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

But you know what? I’m glad he put the sign out there. It won’t just keep out gay people. It’ll keep out any decent human being who finds Amyx’s behavior reprehensible. Even if you’re Christian, you should be in that group.

You know who *is* allowed in Amyx’s store?

Divorced people.

Adulterers.

Liars.

Women who have had abortions.

People who take God’s name in vain.

People with tattoos.

Muslims. Jews. Hindus. Atheists.

Basically, everyone else who breaks some “major” Christian sin. Amyx doesn’t care about any of that, because he has no sign up about them. He thinks homosexuality is a special sin.

Let’s see the Republican Presidential candidates defend him now.



