Under openly gay CEO Tim Cook, Apple has done a lot to forward gay rights. A year ago, the company stood up against homophobic legislation going through Arizona and organized a company-wide march in San Francisco’s annual gay pride parade.
All in all, Apple’s one of the most gay-friendly companies you can work for. So here’s a shocker for you: When Apple figured out it had accidentally hired someone with a history of anti-gay activities, it quickly severed contact.
The hire in question was Jay Love, a former politician Apple hired to lobby on its behalf to the Alabama state legislature. The only issue? Love had a history of lobbying for anti-gay laws.
Buzzfeed, citing records from the Alabama Ethics Commission, says Apple recruited, then fired, conservative lobbyist Love after the company discovered the former state house speaker once sponsored legislation praising a beauty pageant contestant for opposing same-sex marriage.
As House speaker in the Alabama legislature in 2009, Love sponsored a resolution to give the state’s “highest commendations” to Carrie Prejean for publicly declaring her opposition to same-sex marriage during the Miss USA pageant. The legislation said the Southern state was honoring Prejean, who represented California, “for affirming her faith and standing true to her beliefs … and this resolution is offered to her in tribute and with admiration.”
Considering that Cook himself is from Alabama, and openly gay, is it any surprise that Apple distanced itself from Love?
Source: Buzzfeed
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
208 responses to “Apple fires anti-gay lobbyist”
Believe it or not, just because someone doesn’t agree with gay marriage, doesn’t make them anti gay.
It certainly does. The people who don’t agree with gay marriage should mind their own business instead of forcing their prejudices and discriminations on others.
Marriage isn’t a “right” is it? Free speech, speedy trial, things like that are “rights”. And once again, NOT agreeing with someone does NOT mean you hate them.
When the government became involved and began using marriage as a way to confer rights and privileges onto two individuals, it ceased being something defined solely in a religious context and became a “right”. Just as interracial couples had to fight for the “right” to marry, gay couples are now having to go through the same struggle.
Your comments are just stupid. Intentionally so, I assume. Government became involved in “marriage” because of children, and no matter how many fists you have shoved up your fundament, you’re not going to have a baby hand.
No-one really cares what you do in the privacy of your bungalow. Kindly go back to your bedroom and stop forcing everyone to make a decision. It’s not going to work out in your favor.
Marriage has certain rights that can not be obtained by civil unions. And nobody said being anti-gay means you hate gays. It simply means you support anti-gay legislature. You can be “anti-something” without hating that something, aka a disagreement. But even if you disagree with someone why take away their right to marry? It IS a right and quite frankly it is nobody’s business but those two people. Government should get its nose out of religion and civil matters like that. Save that government funding for divorce courts and dealing with getting the non-violent prison population down.
Not anti-gay, anti-gay marriage. There is a big difference.
Disagreeing that two people should get married and actually trying to prevent them from getting married are two different things. The former is tolerable, the latter is a step too far.
You just disagreed with Wayne and myself, ergo you hate us. Why do you have to be so hateful?!?!?? I think you should be banned from this forum for spewing so much hate. Stop being hateful and forcing your ideas onto us. So intolerant!
Disagreement with another’s opinions and trying to prevent two consenting adults from marrying are two separate things. If you and Wayne wanted to tie the knot, I would be perfectly fine with that because who you choose to marry is no one’s business but yours.
Amen Wayne!
You’re spot on, marriage is not a “right”, as it is not defined in our Constitution as a right. It is a privilege. The only thing that the states are obligated to do by the Constitution is to apply all laws equally to every person. Meaning, the states that only allow traditional marriage have to offer traditional marriage to every person, not marriage period. The fact that an individual does not want a traditional marriage does not mean that he does not have equal protection under the law, it only means that he refuses to participate in a law that he has access to just as everyone else does.
Laws against same-sex “marriage” apply equally to homosexual and heterosexual, Mormon and Protestant, black and white…
You could not be more wrong. The US Supreme Court, in a variety of cases, has stated explicitly that marriage is a fundamental right. It is part of the inherent right of association of every human being. No one loses that right and no one grants it. I am convinced that reactionaries, such as yourself, are the least patriotic of Americans because time and again you are simply ignorant of and do not believe in our American Constitution or way of life.
Like Apple minds their own business with gay “marriage”?? What’s good for the goose is apparently not good for the gander.
Who’s forcing whom fascist?
It’s OK for the gays to force THEIR prejudices and discriminations on non-gays, but not vice-versa. Hmmmm. Why is that??????? Marriage IS one man, one woman, by definition. Always was, always will be. To suggest otherwise is like denying gravity. Sorry.
What are gays forcing on you? Is your marriage affected?
Stupid reply. The straight guy got fired because of your gay stuff. Wow that is cool.
Would it have been OK to fire him if he was a neo-nazi or a KKK member? If he had lobbied against racial equality? It’s the same thing.
You sound like an ignorant asshole. Congratulations on making yourself look uneducated.
You should think before you speak.
You’re confusing what your book defines as marriage versus what the state defines as marriage. Your book is NOT the law. It’s also extremely outdated and full of a lot of hatred.
I’m so tired of people like you, using your religion as the basis to deny other people the same rights you enjoy.
Voodoo is confused. The book came first and then the Government decided to regulate it. God made man and women and from that, a union called marriage where a family flowed forth. As for hatred, Yes God hates evil, but he love all of us so much that he gave is son to die for our profound evil. The Government is Man’s law which is mindless compared to God’s wisdom. And if you want rights, then lets legalize murder and theif, Lets allow all sorts of sexual desires. If a gay person should have rights then how about other odd sexual behaviors. And to make matters worse, It is all about money. Who is going to pay for all these benefits. The state should be in the business of making civil unions with no discrimination, not telling the church how to run their business. And you should be able to smoke in bars and parks in NYC>
You are absolutely delusional, and rationalizing your hatred and bigotry with a book of stolen stories hacked together by a bunch of old men. Men who wrote it not to “spread the word of god” but to control the populace.
The only thing in your moronic rant you got right is that it’s about money. Except you have it backward: it’s the churches who are the money grubbers. No taxes on churches? Yeah that’s a load of crap.
As to who is paying for these benefits, well, who pays for your benefits? What’s the difference? Oh right, THERE ISN’T ANY.
Please just stop shoving your religion down other people’s throats. I’m tired of you small minded bigoted assholes thinking you’re better than others because you think you’re a christian.
I’m an athiest, and I can tell you haven’t read your book, because if you did, you’d see that your dear and fluffy savior said to love everyone equally. So start acting like you’re really a christian and realize everyone is equal. PERIOD.
a) There were laws long before your book, and marriage existed long before your book. Your book only collected the customs and prejudices of the time.
b) Theft and murder negatively affect other people. Marriage is between consenting adults.
c) The government is not telling your church to marry gays. This only affects legal marriage. Your church can keep being as bigoted as it wants. That’s religious freedom.
It seems like you just don’t like them to have the same rights as you do.
Look up “begging the question,” because that is exactly what you are doing. You answer your question by providing the answer first. And you’re abysmally ignorant of history. “One man, one woman”? That’s a laugh. Have you ever even read the Bible, let alone studied the marriage habits of people round the world throughout recorded history? Again, ignorance feeds and perpetuates ignorance.
So we should take your advice and not force our opinions on others? Which is exactly what you are doing?
You are a hypocrite. Take a look at your own sermon.
Actually the status quo is no gay marriage, so the group that is forcing their beliefs on others are the ones trying to force acceptance of gay marriage onto the rest of society. As you said, how about the gay marriage supporters “mind their own business instead of forcing their prejudices and discriminations on others”?
Homosexuality is unnatural. The parts don’t fit.
They don’t? I find the do, and quite nicely.
LOL… help me out here, sparky, but every day we see homosexuals “forcing their prejudices and discriminations on others.”
Isn’t it ironic that the people doing all the screaming and demanding others “accept” them are some of the most intolerant, vicious little NAZIs in the country?
And you’re so creepy you don’t even see it. Do you?
Which is exactly what you do to people who want nothing to do with your business. You’re a massive hate group is what you are.
You are a fascist or an ignorant – or most likely, both things at once. Shame on you!
Since when opposing same-sex “marriage” is hate? Why on earth deciding that an arbitrary social contract has specific characteristics and requirements should be “hate”?
The same goes for those who practice gay marriage…………don’t force those who don’t agree with you to participate in gay marriage, such as baking wedding cakes, wedding flowers, etc.
Yes it does! You do not deny people equal rights, if you are okay with them being who they are.
If everyone is equally prohibited from marrying someone of the same sex…
But you don´t want to marry someone of the same sex.. if you want to marry you´ll do so with a woman because thats what you are into, gay people aren´t.. they can´t.. Are you really that dense?
Gay and straight, Mormon and Protestant, black and white, are equally prohibited from entering into a same-sex marriage. There is no discrimination.
Clever! However, that’s not true in the majority of this country.
Also, you can say that gay people are prohibited, in some states still, from marrying the person they love. If Archie love Betty and Betty loves Archie, then they can marry. But if Reggie and Jughead love each other, they can’t marry in some states. That is discrimination.
No, it is not, because Reggie and Jughead’s inability to marry each other stems from a law that applies equally to all.
The law allows straight people who love each other to marry and denies gay people who love each other the right to marry.
In any case, the law has been changed for the majority of Americans. This is rapidly becoming a moot point.
The law equally prohibits everyone from marrying persons of the same sex; it has nothing to do with love.
In a way it does make them anti gay (but not haters).
Yes, it does…
Yes it does.
It does not matter, some of us will fire or marginalize every single last one of you we encounter. You have had more than enough time to adjust, so stop depriving others of a decent life.
Wayne is arguing for a grey area. You’re arguing ‘with us, or against us’. Guess which mentality is more cohesive to a society. Or, you know, just not being a sh1thead in general.
“With us or against us” wasn’t very nice before, so why is it okay for some liberals to take that stance now with people who may not be 100% comfortable with same-sex marriage. Heck, even some gays aren’t comfortable with it. Calling them “anti-gay” or “haters” isn’t the way we should address it. And firing them for something 6 years ago isn’t either.
FYI: SODOMY: MEDICALLY DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR?
Why not have a public dialogue on the medical safety of Sodomy, gay and straight, and ask these two simple medical questions?
That is, Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?
Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.
Additionally, the same can be said that there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Lick the toilet bowl” and that it’s also possible to live a perfectly normal life.
Did you know you can get diseases from “straight” sex?
Well, you somehow misread what I typed and started off with a premise that I didn’t even state. So, whatever comes afterword has nothing to do with my point, just a long and tiring diatribe.
Straights CAN get disease from sex, correct. But did Straights make an AIDS QUILT? And who are the sexual partners of the names on the AIDS Quilt? What is their status? Did they infect others? And here we are 30 years later with lots of sex education and the GLBT community still with the highest HIV rates while still composing of only 1-3% of the population.
This is called dictature, fire someone because he doesn’t think like you… Well Tim Cook is not so serious when it’s about firing people in China doing bribery work all day long !
If Jay Love wanted black people to become slaves for white people again, would you say the same? You have to draw the line at somewhere. Some people would argue that this is a political matter, and a business should be open for different views, but I others, like Cook, look at it as a matter of human rights. And that is not unfair in my opinion. Some people would call support of slavery a “political issue” as well.
If Mr. Love were saying, now, that he doesn’t support SSM, that’s one thing. But do we know if Mr. Love still feels the way he did about it 6 years ago?
You can be fired in 30 american states for being gay, its a about time someone was fired for being openly homophobic.
Neither is good. In Utah we are working on making non-discrimination laws state-wide. This type of behavior doesn’t help.
By the way “phobic” is the wrong term. A phobia is an extreme fear of something. I don’t fear gays. I pity them.
Sure, pity the CEO of the biggest company in the world.
Apple and any other company can hire or fire anyone for any reason or no reason at all (no matter what you think about it).
phobia is a good thing…that is, considering how dangerous Sodomy is.
Oral sex is sodomy.
You are correct.
FYI.
It also means “aversion to something.” So, yeah, you can still be homophobic even if you don’t run away screaming from one.
Good point. Let’s wreak havoc against our enemies! Do to them what they did to us! Fire them! Destroy their lives!!! That’ll show them!!!! We’ll teach them all about love and compassion-the same values we talk about during our marriage campaigns!!! YEAH!
~rolls eyes~~~
They have dropped many suppliers over the years. Probably not enough but how many suppliers has samsung dropped? or any company. Do we even know?
Every company is a dictature.
But in the meantime, Apple has made anyone who works for them that also happens to be a Christian that believes what the Bible teaches, feel very uncomfortable and marginalized.
Do you mean the same Bible which teaches that homosexuals should be stoned to death in Leviticus 20:13? It states: ‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” NIV. Let’s well hope that Christians are made to feel very uncomfortable about this and all the other immoral, and supposedly God-given, commands in their silly book of nonsensical fables.
That doesn’t apply to Christians so please stop using it. It’s a bad argument. I am a Christian. I have no problem with the Government recognizing marriage because the Bible never speaks against the Government doing it. If you bring it into a religious context then I certainly get to hold how the standard for what God said a marriage is.
Hahaha…the “New Testament trumps the Old Testament” argument. Which is why it’s okay for Christians to eat shellfish and pork too, right?
Note that Jesus said that the nothing in the old law would change or be invalidated until his work on Earth is done, so unless you’re a Preterist you ought to be sending the females in your household to the outskirts of town if they have a seven day period.
Nice to see someone who has actually read the Bible. Nothing will make you an atheist faster than actually reading the insanity contained within it’s pages… unless you are fond of succumbing to delusion.
Yep; it first hit me when I read about God coming down and wrestling with Moses to the death until Zipporah circumcised their son and rubbed the foreskin on Moses’ feet. I started reading the Bible with a much more critical eye, and I quickly began to realize that the God of the Bible is a bipolar psychopath.
Not only that, but the horrors that have been committed over the years in the name of this crap blows my mind. The Crusades were all about a bunch of asshole Christians deciding everyone else needed to be of their religion, and if they didn’t switch, they were killed.
Pretty sure if their dear and fluffy lord ever existed, he would be seriously facepalming.
The crusades were started as defensive battles against the likes of ISIS-like Turks.
Please stop talking. If you are not a Jew you are only bound by the Noahide Laws (wiki it) not laws meant for Jews, who have their own covenant with God with many more rules. This has been settled Jewish theology since before the existence of Christianity, and settled Christian doctrine for over 1500 years. You are repeating atheist talking points that have been irrelevant since before the time of the printing press.
LOL.. so the Old Testament isn’t what they believe eh? Oh but the Ten Commandments sure, but laws about stoning gays, no. So many fundamentalist Christians conveniently ignore the outright immoral parts of their “holy” book – which most have never actually fully read – while cherry-picking the nicer bits. It’s okay, the New Testament is filled with lots of awful things (like the infinite punishment of burning in hell for eternity for the finite crime of disbelief in magic beings) which they quite conveniently ignore as well.
1) You don’t know what “god” said about marriage because you weren’t there. No one was.
2) Marriage as performed in a church is nothing more than a religious ceremony. I was married by a judge. That’s the only real, recognized marriage there is. You still need a license from the state to get married.
Voodoo:
Marriage by two believing Christians in Church: less than 10% Divorce Rate
Marriage at city Hall: over 60% Divorce Rate.
Reason, marriage was designed by God and works best under his wisdom.
I, too, can make up bullshit statistics on the spot. 82% of all Christians are self-absorbed morons who think they’re more right than everyone else.
Why don’t you act like a christian and stop being an asshole. Everyone deserves EQUAL RIGHTS. EVERYONE.
What about the other 18%?
Andrew, When you break any of the 10 commandments the punishment is death. Do you lock your doors at night? Why I ask would you do that, only because you are afraid someone might break one of the 10 commandments on you. The reality is that before a Holy God we are all like filthy menstral rags. We all need his forgiveness not just a gay person. Our souls long for God. To know him you must meet Jesus.
Funny that your 10 commandments include nonsense about propitiating the vanity of your god in the first three but mention nothing against rape or pedophilia or slavery. Morality precedes your outdated book of fables and magic. Do you think that no one had any idea that murder and theft was wrong until a bunch of desert goat-herders happened upon Mount Sinai? These were in place in the time of Hammurabi, way before time of the mythical Moses. Go and learn some real history.
No no, clearly the Ancient Greeks had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, if they even existed. Only the roman christians knew anything about morality.
LOL I can’t even say that stupid shit with a straight face. Believers are fucked up.
You again?
For the last time: stop shoving your religion at other people. Just because you’re delusional and believe it actually happened doesn’t mean the rest of us do.
Didn’t Jesus say to forgive, but stop committing the sin?
SODOMY: MEDICALLY DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR?
Why not have a public dialogue on the medical safety of Sodomy, gay and straight, and ask these two simple medical questions?
That is, Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?
Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.
Additionally, the same can be said that there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Lick the toilet bowl” and that it’s also possible to live a perfectly normal life.
You’re a little too fascinated with poop, man.
When you engage in anal sex and hate yourself for it and for liking it, I supposes you become well-versed in the subject.
FOUR (4) PROPOSALS on a HOMO-CURE. Some are quick temporary fixes and some are permanent solutions.
SEE SOLUTION #4 at bottom for a possible Breakthrough in understanding hormones involved in sexual orientation
SOLUTION 1?:
Google: “Rabbis to match homosexuals, lesbians – Israel Jewish Scene”
SOLUTION 2?:
ELECTROSHOCK versus SURGERY BY A TWO-EDGE SWORD called TRUTH
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12 NIV
Does not the Truth cut like a two-edged sword? Is not Knowledge, Power?
Hence, why not Video therapy for Gayness? Or a YouTube cure for the GLBT and Sodomy?
————————————————————
SOLUTION 2 – EXAMPLE
Show them 3-D videos of the feces contact with human skin in the rectal area where micro tears happen during anal s*x and how blood mixes with feces during anal s*x. Also show them toilet with human waste…let them also breath in the smell of what they are actually doing…..similar to how some people become vegetarians
Also show them how urine is transferred during oral s*x and how it spreads HPV which then causes oral cancer….
Show them how phone apps like “grinder” where gays have sex with strangers spreads and cultivates the AIDS virus into drug resistant AIDS as well as mutate into even more weird and strange diseases like Mad Cow, SARS, Avian Bird Flu, Ebola, flesh eating bacteria, etc….
all due from contact with “unclean” conditions….as stated also in the Bible….perhaps the word too simplistic to the head up in the clouds non-straight community
Addendum to SOLUTION #2
The 3-D videos would be similar to how people become vegetarians, the smell and sight of the slaughtering of meat and blood cause some to gross out, hence, they have images and the thinking that causes them to become vegetarians. i.e. they out think themselves, or think too deeply. They same could be done for detailed images of anal sex and the mixing of blood and fecal matter.
Click on my profile to see a link to the WordPress site for the rest of the solutions
Whatever. That’s not the point. Not everyone who goes to church is like that. Not every Christian has the goal of converting the gays to straightness. There are MANY Christians who have worked on the SSM campaigns and some are even gay themselves. However, it is true that in many places, the ignorance about religion really does make a lot of Christians feel marginalized. Is it fair to treat them ALL like they’re Westboro Baptists? No, it is not and that should be recognized.
Too bad. The world can’t protect you from feeling uncomfortable because of beliefs you chose to hold.
“Dammit I feel uncomfortable about that solar farm — they should be doing coal instead” — so fucking what?
Oh please. Not this “persecuted christian” crap again. Get over yourself and your stupid book.
Good, they can go away. The tech world does not need or want these people.
So…Mr. Cook is intolerant of anyone that doesn’t agree with his views. So much for the crowd that calls for tolerance.
Yeah, you’re called “anti” this and that if you don’t agree with the agenda. And there IS a gay agenda. Just ask owners of bakeries.
So you believe that bakeries should be allowed not to serve a couple just because they’re gay?
If you have the right to force a private business to do something for you, where does it end? Does this mean I can force a bank to give me a loan or force my employer to give me a raise and a promotion? It’s private business, it’s their choice. You remember choice, that keyword that is used to promote gay marriage?
Then by your reasoning Apple should have every right to fire someone it deems antithetical to culture they’re trying to cultivate; in this case, equality for homosexuals. Stop your grousing.
Boom! Nicely played!
Why hire him in the first place
Ah the slippery slope fallacy. I find it funny when people use it without realizing how silly it is.
So you think private bakeries can discriminate against you because your old and fat?
Before you know it bakeries will be forced to provide cakes for black people, against their beliefs.
Wayne Williams: Shouldn’t a business promote cleanliness as it’s serving the public?
Likewise, Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?
Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.
Let’s find a bakery owned by Gay owners and order a cake for an anti-gay event. Or, a bakery owned by Muslims and order a cake for a Bar Mitzva. How about a venue with Gay owners and book an anti-gay marriage conference.
I’m not saying I agree with either side, but I think we would suddenly find a quick change in thinking.
TucsonMatt: If I had that bakery business, I would never stand for the GLBT’s to do that and post the below in a large sign or on a billboard and end this pro-gay nonsense.
The agenda is equal rights.
Go back 50 years, and remove the word “Gay agenda” and replace it with “Black agenda” and you’ll se how inane your comment is. In 50 years we’ll look back and wonder at people like you, who if you could, would probably turn the hoses on gay people if you could. You are not going to be on the winning side of history. We have had gay marriage equality in Canada for over 10 years and our society has not fallen apart and has only gotten better for it. Give it up and take your sexual hang ups out of the equation and join the rest of us in the 21st century.
Go back 50 years, and remove the word “Gay agenda” and replace it with “Black agenda” and you’ll se how inane your comment is. In 50 years we’ll look back and wonder at people like you, who if you could, would probably turn the hoses on gay people. You are not going to be on the winning side of history. We have had gay marriage equality in Canada for over 10 years and our society has not fallen apart and has only gotten better for it. Give it up and take your sexual hang ups out of the equation and join the rest of us in the 21st century.
Wtf, there’s no agenda. Please don’t speak for anyone besides yourself.
I read this reply this morning and sat on my reply all day. What, exactly, is this agenda to which you refer? Being treated like everyone else? Being given the same basic freedoms as everyone else? Then when we cannot support our argument with reasoned logic, we resort to slinging silly comparisons. I will agree that there are some groups who take it a bit too far . . . but in day-to-day life, all I want is the same basic thing that anyone else wants. I want to be treated with dignity, respect, and be allowed to love and/or marry whomever I love.
We can sit here and argue and scream scripture at one another, but deep down, the vast majority, the ones who aren’t screaming at each other, just want to be treated with dignity and respect. The idea that Apple hired someone who is opposed to treating all people equal is what this is about. Not who is gay, straight, or indifferent.
As you are, so am I . . . a human being. We may not like the same things, we may not agree on the same issues, but that’s okay. What is not okay is marginalizing people for being different. People run around screaming that this isn’t the same as the race issue. Well, that’s true, being gay isn’t a separate race. There are white ones, black ones, asian ones, female ones, so on and so forth. What is the issue is that the minute we start to devalue someone for being different, we devalue ourselves and all people. How in the world are we supposed to be the most advanced society on earth when all we can do is scream at each other for being different?
I don’t expect a reasoned, logical reply. I expect the reply I get will be something about how I am just another gay with an agenda and a quota that I have to meet if I want the toaster . . . but honestly, I want to be able to come home at the end of the day and be asked, “How was your day?” I want to be able to come home and hug the person I love and who loves me back, without being worried about what other people think. Isn’t that what most people want?
There is so much hatred in this world. Why aren’t we concerned about that? My agenda is to treat others as I would have them treat me. End of line.
Daniel J Margrave: You say your agenda is to treat others as you would have them treat you, correct? OK. Why would you want others, or yourself, to suffer a medically dangerous act such as Sodomy?
Non sequitur.
Perhaps YOU need to have that discussion; perhaps a sit down with a counselor or therapist or linguist, someone who could help you to piece together your disingenuous, illogical, and quite frankly stupid argument. I would really rather debate the “gay agenda” with an ignorant red neck than this idiocy.
I just can’t even.
If you click on my profile you can see a link to the WordPress site that states the below.
Non sequitur. Illogical. Spurious. Disingenuous.
One thing I’ve learned from all that book-learnin’ I did was that those who are most vociferously against something are they themselves.
Are you gay? Are you gay-curious? Is that why you can only post the same two things, that I am more than sure you didn’t write? Cut it.
Imagine if there was some billboard with the original post’s questions? Do you think you, or the GLBT community, could handle it? Or perhaps your rebuttal billboard would state, Non sequitur. Illogical. Spurious. Disingenuous.
If you visit that WordPress site at this profile there are 4 homocure proposals. Can you handle it?
Yes, I feel the hate within you. Soon, your path to the dark side will be complete. The more you deny, the more you become one with those you claim to hate . . . soon, you too, will be on the list to be “cured” of your homosexual tendencies.
HATE WITHIN ME? OR IS IT WITHIN GAYS?
Should gays really be worried about Hate Crimes and Homophobia? Or should GLBT and Gays be worried about Gay-On-Gay crimes which are exponentially more in number?
That is, shouldn’t those that KNOWINGLY infect their partner with HIV belong in jail?
For example, how can the tiny GLBT community with a 1% to 3% population demographic consistently have the highest HIV rates and total numbers since AIDS was discovered 30 years ago? Shouldn’t all the safe sex and condom talk for the last 30 years have made a difference in the GLBT HIV infection rate by now?
But if a Gay person, KNOWINGLY infects other Gays, wouldn’t that be a Gay-On-Gay crime? And wouldn’t that be a FELONY? Perhaps 1st or 2nd Degree Murder if they die of AIDS? And considering gays have the highest HIV infection rates, wouldn’t that make all these Hate Crimes against GLBT almost insignificant when compared to the number of Gay-On-Gay crimes of knowingly infecting their partners?
If he was a lobbyist with a white power agenda, I best you wouldn’t be so quick to call Tim Cook intolerant for firing him, since it’s not as en vogue to use the Bible to justify racism and slavery anymore.
Thanks for totally going down a rabbit trail and avoiding the issue.
Analogous reasoning is a perfectly acceptable form of discussion and debate. Just because you don’t like the implication doesn’t invalidate the point I was making.
It’s not analogous. This lobbyist believes that marriage is between one man and one woman, and doesn’t believe that the definition of marriage should be changed. Tim Cook won’t tolerate any view that’s antithetical to his.
Oh….one more thing – I never made any mention of the Bible or a biblical world view (although I believe and hold to both).
Really? You don’t see how defining marriage as between one man or one woman to discriminate against homosexuals is analogous to defining marriage as between a man and a woman of the same color to discriminate against interracial couples? It’s really not that big of a leap, Guy.
That definition is in a RELIGIOUS context only. It has no bearing on what the Government does. You can try to argue that, I did for a long time but you cannot justify it even biblically. The best you get with a biblical argument is “I don’t have to recognize it because of religious reasons.”.
Your Bible says nothing about gay marriage… presumably because it takes care of the “gay issue” from the outset by commanding that homosexuals caught in the act be KILLED. You like the NT so much, why not ask yourself, what would Jesus do? Think about that while you ignore the parts of the Bible which are at best, immoral, and at worst, outright evil.
Andrew you have not read the letters of Paul, obviously. He speaks multiple times against homosexuality. Jesus would tell gays and the rest of us, “Go, and sin no more.”
Actually, The Bible does not justify the oppression of anyone. However, to the Christian, slavery has no power over them because they are set free in Christ. Meaning to life is not born out of ones position in this world, it is born out of one’s relationship with God. No man has power over that relationship. The second truth is that no man can take anything to the grave except the good deeds he has done in his life. Think about that one in relationship to what Apple has taken from the people who made all the iphones. What good is all the money they have gained…. NADA
Tell that to the blacks who had suffer slavery in the Antebellum South. The Bible was used extensively as a justification for black slavery, and the Churches were used as a platform for pushing back against abolitionist movements.
Yes but it was Christians who reversed it as well.
Yay.. some Christians actually rose above the immorality preached in their “holy” texts and decided to use their humanistic values to rise up and declare that slavery is wrong. All this despite the proclamations of self-appointed god of a desert people who at one time mandated that his “chosen” people go out and enslave other peoples. Anyone who denies this is the case is simply not living in the same reality as the rest of us. You are more moral than your so-called “god.” Be happy for it.
The Bible was very clear when it said a great apostasy would come following the death of the apostles. In fact it was already starting before John died. This would bring about a clergy class that would dominate the people and twist the truth, adopting many pagan and Greek mythological beliefs. They would rise to power until being exposed for what they are in the last days. Christendom does not have the truth.
The Bible not only condones slavery, but mandates it and explains how you can beat your slaves within an inch of their lives, pass them on as property to your children, and that you’re free to gather them from the nations around Israel. The New Testament, if you’ve read it, not only does not do away with slavery, it continues the trend. “Slaves obey your masters… ” At no time did anyone try to put a stop to it. Not even Jesus says anything about how owning another person is not right. After all he came to fulfill the law not overturn it… so hey. Try actually reading the Bible instead of apologizing for it’s lack of morality on countless issues.
Yeah but the bible is total bull shit and has no relation to this current world. Things move on. God didn’t write the bible. The holy spirit aint got a pen.
Slavery in the Bible is much different that what we had in the United States.
BS and you know it. Either that or you need to go back and study it. In one passage it talks about indentured servitude, but in another it proscribes the ownership of people, where you can BUY them from, how long they can work for you, how you can pass them on to your children as property, how you can treat them etc. “However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)” How is this not understood? And with Hebrew slaves, it’s not much better… if the slave has a wife, they have to stay behind if the slave leaves. and of course, what father would leave behind his family, so is thus “tricked” into slavery for life: ” If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. … If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.’ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever.” (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
No no no. We must be consistent here. We have to be tolerant to our KKK and Neo-nazi brethren.
So Apple must be tolerant of intolerance? That is just silly. They can fire whomever they want as long as it isn’t baseless discriminating, aka things you can’t change like skin color.
^^^^^^^ Absolutely…^^^^^^^^^
So you think he should be tolerant of the intolerant? Really?
In a matter of words – yes. Mr. Cook, and you, need to realize there are those that view changing the definition of marriage (something that has long been held for centuries…even eons) as between one man and one woman is wrong.
By saying “I have to agree with your view only” is highly intolerant.
Yeah, that’s complete and utter nonsense. Maintaining traditions because they’ve been done for “centuries…even eons”, has never been a good reason to keep doing things. Just like slavery, or smoke enemas. We learn what’s wrong with a system and then change it, then ignorant people like yourself complain and are ignored.
And your concept of tolerance is simply laughable. Tim Cook should tolerate employing someone that doesn’t align with the company’s values but you can’t tolerate gay marriage? You can’t have it both ways. No ones forcing you to marry Some Other Guy. Mind your own business. Companies fire people for not aligning with their values in a variety of situations, this isn’t unique.
So ‘tolerance’ requires that I must hire people who have made it their business to deny my personhood?
Apparently they only hire those who agree with their views, which is in itself a form of discrimination.
Yeah, in my job interview for Apple I started crying. They asked me why? I told them I was so bummed out because of Hitlers failure in exterminating the Jews. Guess what? I didn’t get the job! Fucking discriminating nazis.
That is an ignorant reply
Use some fucking punctation you ignant.
I am very supportive of the gay community. I do not support Gay marriage for religious reasons. I have a right to defend what I believe to be true as those who think Gays should have the right to marry. Our thoughts should not interfere with our work. When Apple pulls something like this off they are crossing that line. I have little respect for Apple and have not and will not ever buy their products. And don’t think this is an anti-Gay protest, it is a protest against a company that is two faced and treats people horribly for the sake of their bottom line.
“I am very supportive of the gay community. I do not support Gay marriage for religious reasons.”
You can’t be “very supportive” of the gay community while also discriminating against them, whatever your reasons.
“And don’t think this is an anti-Gay protest, it is a protest against a company that is two faced and treats people horribly for the sake of their bottom line.”
Apple does a lot of things that are socially-consicous that don’t always work towards their bottom line. Heavy investments in renewable energy, support for social causes that make religious folks like you get bent out of shape, and other initiatives have led Mr. Cook to even telling investors who disagree with some of Apple’s causes that they may want to sell their stock and find another place to invest. I doubt you could find many examples of where Apple has “[treated] people horribly for the sake of their bottom line”.
Marriage for most of history was ordained by God. It defined a relationship between a man and a woman and included the potential of having a family. The State decided to use this to make money and made rules about how marriage should be dispensed. My thought is that the state should stay out of God’s business. The more the state is involved the more marriages fail… If it is for benefits then make up a new term like civil marriage. Apple by firing this guy has forced the issue to accept a belief or get fired. That is exactly what us gays are fight against. I don’t agree with what the man is doing, but that is not grounds for being fired.
Regards to Moral Apple, how many people have serious health issues from making the iphones. Who cares about renewable energy when people died or became gravely ill to afford them the money to invest.
The delusion runs deep with this one. Once again, take out the word “Gay” and insert “black” and go back 50 years… see how that fits… after all your Bible was used to denigrate the “Hamites” as they were known in the Old Testament. Or have you even read your Bible? Probably not.
You need to read it too. That was a provision specifically for Israel to keep them pure. It doesn’t apply to the NT Church.
Jesus said thusly: “”Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:17-18 thus… mandated slavery, stoning gays, and every other abomination in the biblical texts is still a go in the New Testament. Or do you not agree with Jesus’ own words? No wiggle room here but apologists will try to slime their way out of this disconnect. Face it, your religion condones slavery and stoning people to death. No better than ISIS is today. Just accept it.
Well too bad, marriage isn’t a religious issue. Churches CAN refuse gay marriages but anything government related must not discriminate.
The churches formed the whole idea of marriage and for that matter a positive moral value. People who take their faith seriously have a much higher chance to stay married than those who choose city hall. If you want a new order where anyone or thing can marry, then let the state have a new word and set of rules to define that. I more than realize the complexity of this issue, but the state should never be allowed to force it’s values on the Church or for that matter any religious group. That said, the issue is that a person who does not agree with the gay agenda should not lose their job. I will never ever by an Apple Product… EVER! Not because of the gay issue presented here but because people lost any meaning to their lives making these stupid phones. They even lost their lives, and no Iphone is worth that.
Action by Apple like that is quite ridiculous. Only people with real problems do such things.
Apple is hiring someone to help form politics in favor of equality. If they hire someone who’s promoting inequality, doesn’t that not seem right.. replacing him with someone who’s gonna be out there for the beliefs Apple hires them seems right.
Wow the comments here are bigoted. I assumed people here would be better people.
Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. I checked and didn’t see a link to the story from Drudge Report, so I can only guess as to where these folks are coming from.
It says a lot that you equate Drudge Report readers with bigots.
There was an article about Ferguson where Osagyefo Sekou made a bigoted comment: he defined a good cop as a cop “who doesn’t shoot black people.” And I, a Drudge Report reader, replied with a non-bigoted comment: “No, a good cop is a cop of any race, who uses his weapon only when justified, against a perpetrator of any race.”
You what? Really? People are crazy. I expect crazy.
Turn back. The comments here are terrible. Save your time.
Apple did the right thing. And no, you’re not understanding the freedom of speech – Apple is a private company and can fire anyone based on their speech if it feels is contrary to their culture. Christian organizations do that all the time.
They are not a private company. They are trading on the NYSE and are public. Firing someone due to their religious beliefs is against the law. This guy’s religious belief is that marriage is between a man and a woman. Also, you are saying a private company can fire someone if they don’t conform to their beliefs? So if a private company only hires gay people, is that okay? Of course it isn’t. Remember the baker who refused to make wedding cakes for gay couples? The Federal government said they had to make the cakes, so they closed the shop. Reverse the situation………what if a straight person went into a gay bakery and demanded they make them a cake that said “Marriage should only be between a man and a woman”. If the gay baker refused to make that, I would assume the Feds would force him to make it anyway. Like others have said, these harsh tactics, lawsuits, demands are going to come back and bite companies and people when they are forced to honor and respect things they are against or don’t share the same belief.
Oh the sweet irony in this comment.
Firing someone because their personal beliefs are likely to impact their job performance is reasonable. It wouldn’t make sense for Apple to pay a lobbyist who didn’t really feel obligated to advocate Apple’s ideals and motives.
How is this not discrimination in itself. Just because someone is against gay-marriage due to their religious beliefs, it doesn’t mean they hate gay people. I expect Apple to fire any Muslim as well since they are anti-women’s rights and anti-gay people all together?
Someone above mentioned slippery slope arguments, this may well be one of them… just sayin’
They are not going to fire Muslim employees for the actions of Muslims overseas any sooner than they would fire Christian employees for the actions of the KKK.
If the guy was some random programmer, I’m sure they wouldn’t have fired him. However, this guy was effectively a PUBLIC face for the company. Since when are people defending lobbyists anyway?
I’d be suprised if this guy doesn’t sue Apple for millions.
So it’s not allowed to have different oppinion anymore? This reminds me Communism era, you could have only one oppinion. This is going to be the same.
We’re talking about a lobbyist for a company. How can a lobbyist correctly represent their firm when their values don’t align? If some programmer got fired for being anti-gay, then yes, it’s a major issue.
Where is respect for freedom of speech and freedom of religion? Apparently not in this country any more.
It’s Freedom OF Religion, not Freedom FROM Religion. However, the godless Americans today think they shouldn’t even have to respect, hear, or see religion anywhere while others should be subjected to however they want to act or what they want to support. It’s like a gay parade. They demand and claim it’s their right to have these public parades that consist of obscenities, nudity, and lewd acts. Meanwhile, they get all up in arms when someone references religion in a Christmas parade. It makes no sense. Once again, I’m in support of gay marriage, but the same respect and rights they demand, they should honor to those who they disagree with. It’s okay to disagree and share different beliefs. As long as someone isn’t hiring, firing or a public company refusing to do business with someone due to their personal beliefs, we should be allowed to express our beliefs.
That’s because we have a secular government. You should be thankful for that.
Funny how the same rights they demand are the same rights other individuals in this country have. You are in support of gay marriage, but your comments suggest you aren’t in support of EQUAL rights. That’s a very strong contradictory belief system you have in place .
You are allowed to express your beliefs, as are other people allowed to express their disgust with your beliefs. It’s a two way street. The religious seem to continuously forget that fact.
So much for the Left’s love for free speech. I you agree it’s free speech. If you don’t it’s hate speech. By the way “phobic” is the wrong term. A phobia is an extreme fear of something. I fear no man, gay or straight.
It’s not a free speech issue; the government had nothing to do with this situation and didn’t infringe upon anyone’s right to espouse their beliefs.
Now it’s okay to discriminate against people who disagree with the homosexual lifestyle? I’m getting sick of the hate and bullying of militant homosexual movement. You better agree with our perverse lifestyle or else…fascist.
Now it’s okay to discriminate against people who discriminate against homosexuals? I’m getting sick of the disgust and justice of the homosexual movement. You better agree with our natural orientation or else…evil equal rights groups.
*FTFY*
PK: How about a billboard with the below and end this entire argument?
Maybe if his name had been Guy Love rather than Jay Love they would have kept him.
My questions is this: Suppose someone who is opposed to gay marriage hires someone and then finds out they had supported gay marriage in the past. What do you think would happen if the company then fired that person? Do you think there would be articles praising them, or would a firestorm erupt and lawsuits filed? There really is a double standard on these things.
fab news! Karma is a bitch.
Alabama.
I don’t care about the issue at hand at all. BUT, isn’t it weird how we applaud blacklisting, stepping on free speech or opinion, and firing people over ideology when it’s an idea you don’t personally agree with? Even though this behavior would be roundly critizied if he was on your side of some issue? -and before you site some ridiculous, extreme case like nazism, we are talking about a social issue unconnected to his actual job, and not openly agreed on be say half the planet. Point is since the issue is one on which opinions wary wildly and not his actual job, why not let someone have their own, you know, opinion.
Disappointed that the article said, “The only issue? Love had a history of lobbying for anti-gay laws”, instead of “The only issue? Love had a history of lobbying for hate”. Would have been perfect, amirite?
Love was a fucking traitor to himself.
Why did Apple need to hire anyone to lobby on behalf of itself to the Alabama state legislature in the first place?
Also, if this guy is truly a gay hater, why would he agree to work under someone he knows to be gay?
He was probably just after the money. The hirer probably didn’t spend too much time background checking this guy and he got the job. Companies lobby all the time. A truly disgusting practice as it ignores free speech and corrupts law makers, but in a world where money talks what can a normal person do?
His name is Love? What a waste of a good name.
Leviticus is also one of the most hypocritical books in the whole book of hypocrisy.
And for the last time, the goddamn bible is not the goddamn law. Quit shoving that shit in people’s faces like it is. If you want to live in a place where religion is law, move to Saudi Arabia!
PK, truthfully, I don’t think that works. The entire NT has it’s foundations in the Old Testament. You need to rethink this.
Not surprised they fired him, I am surprised Apple felt it had any reason to lobby the Alabama legislators, they wouldn’t know Apple from apple pie.
Spoken like a bigot.
PK, Pro-Gay’s like to quote Leviticus a lot, but completely forget the New Testament.
Nevertheless, doesn’t the Bible mention cleanliness? For example: Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. (Deuteronomy 23:12-13 NIV)
Typical intolerance of Liberals, and specifically gay marriage Liberals. As Wayne says, just because someone is against gay marriage doesn’t make them anti-gay. Logically flawed at best, and down right hateful at worst. It is a tactic to smear people that you disagree with. The harborers of hatred and intolerance are those that slander anti-gay marriage as being anti-gay simply because they disagree with them. This is why no progress can be made on this topic, because pro-gay marriage supporters poison the well with hatred and offensive language.
It would be like saying those who are pro-gay marriage are immoral perverts and gay-loving fanatics.
Think the way we think or you’re fired. Yeah, I’d call that fascist.
The problem is that when you start taking away people’s right to express themselves, there is no line. You’ve already crossed the line.
In the army they used to tell us that if the army wanted us to have an opinion they would issue us one. It sounds like that’s what the left wants now.
But this is what the anti-gay lobbyists want, this is what they’re asking for. Tim Cook just has some “deeply, sincerely held beliefs” and had to fire the guy. Tough tits.
The debate is over the ethics of the action, not its legality.
This act by Tim Cook is horrifying. America is losing its freedom by an overwhelming propaganda and oppressive homosexual community. I hope this guy who was fired files a big giant lawsuit against apple for wrongful termination. Homosexuals hatred and oppression against those who consider this social behavior to be destructive is just exactly as bad as employers firing homosexuals because they are homosexuals.
Most unfortunate that one can’t voice an opinion that differs from the majority. I’m a gay man who worked for our right to marry in both campaigns in Maine, but I know not everyone agrees with same-sex marriage. This incident happened 6 years ago. We’re winning now. Let it go. This type of hate doesn’t help our cause.
I agree with Wayne. It’s very sad that you now see the opposite happening: those who promote gay rights are forcing their prejudices and discriminations on others. Who said that somebody who promotes traditional marriage (the only one God invented at creation, see the book of Genesis) will interfere with working at a computer company? Strange that Apple has strayed from its mission to make computers and is now doing politics…