Tennessee Hardware Store Puts Up 'No Gays Allowed' Sign

The owner, a Baptist minister, says 'I'm standing for what I believe in' and has no plans to take the sign down.

The owner of an east Tennessee hardware store placed an anti-LGBT sign in the window of his business that he says expresses his religious beliefs. The sign, handwritten on a blank piece of 8-by-10-inch paper, says in all capital letters, "NO GAYS ALLOWED."

Jeff Amyx, who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in Grainger County, Tenn., says he taped the sign to his store's window in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage and because he feels gay and lesbian relationships are against his religion.

Amyx is also a Baptist minister.

According to Knoxville TV station WBIR, it occured to him 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?" Amyx told WBIR. "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 has no plans to take the sign down.