Following Monday's Supreme Court ruling
involving a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay
couple, a Tennessee hardware store owner has posted a “No Gays
Allowed” sign.
Jeff Amyx, owner of Amyx Hardware &
Roofing Supplies in Grainger County, first posted the sign after the
Supreme Court's landmark 2015 finding that gay and lesbian couples
have a constitutional right to marry.
Speaking with NBC local affiliate WBIR
10, Amyx called this week's decision a victory for Christians.
“Christianity is under attack,"
Amyx
said. "This is a great win, don't get me wrong, but this is
not the end, this is just the beginning. Right now, we're seeing a
ray of sunshine. This is 'happy days' for Christians all over
America, but dark days will come."
In Monday's case, the high court said
that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had shown hostility toward
the baker's religious beliefs in ruling that he had violated the
state's anti-discrimination laws when he refused to make the cake.
Rather than striking down the law, the high court vacated the
decision, leaving Colorado's law – and others around the country –
intact.
(Related: Supreme
Court narrowly sides with baker who refused gay couple.)
On Thursday, an
appeals court in Arizona cited the case in upholding Phoenix's LGBT
protections ordinance.
A backlash in 2015 pressured Amyx to
take down his “No Gays Allowed” sign. He replaced it with a sign
that read: “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who
would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of
religion.”