Brian Klawiter, owner of Dieseltec auto
repair shop in Grandville, Michigan, has vowed not to serve gays “in
the spirit of freedom.”
“[C]onservative Americans are being
squashed more and more everyday,” Klawiter said in a Facebook post,
adding that in the “spirit of freedom” and his right to run his
business as he sees fit, he would “not hesitate to refuse service
to an openly gay person or persons.”
When questioned about the post by
WOOD-TV,
Klawiter said while he doesn't ask customers their sexual
orientation, an openly gay couple would not be “tolerated” in his
shop.
“If you want to come in here with
your boyfriend and you want to openly display that, that's just not
going to be tolerated here. We don't believe [in] that here,” he
said.
“Homosexuality is wrong, period,”
he wrote in his original post. “If you want to argue this fact
with me, then I will put your vehicle together with all bolts and no
nuts and you can see how that works.”
When asked how he would feel if he were
to read that post as a gay person, Klawiter answered: “I think it
would be made pretty clear to me that I'm not welcome there, which I
would almost consider enlightening. I would know exactly where not
to go.”
Response on the Internet was swift,
with the shop's Google+ account quickly filling up with negative
comments, and Klawiter's original Facebook
post being shared by thousands.
In a follow up post, Klawiter said that
he had received death threats and threats to burn down his business
and home.