On Saturday morning, CNN host Michael Smerconish put the head of a rightwing group hostile to the rights of the LGBTQ community on the spot as she whined that she and her colleagues were refused service at a Virginia restaurant over their views — while at the same defending the rights of Christian businesspeople refusing to work with same-sex couples.
On Dec 2, Virginia Business reported that the Metzger Bar and Butchery, in Richmond’s Union Hill neighborhood, canceled reservations made by members of the Family Foundation of Virginia because employees and the owner didn’t feel comfortable serving the group that is opposed to equal rights for all.
That led the president of the group, Victoria Cobb to the Smerconish show where the host attempted multiple times to get her to admit that denial of service to her group was no different than a Christian baker refusing to make a cake for a same-sex couple which she felt was — and is — justified.
“I know you follow the arguments as I did this past Monday in the Supreme Court on the same issue,” Smerconish prompted her. “It’s incredible the timing of all of this. Justice Sotomayor said, ‘hey, if we allow the web designer to not have to design that web for the same-sex couple, for the first time in our history we’re going to be saying it’s okay to discriminate based on gender identity, based on race, based on religion.'”
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“You know it’s a slippery slope argument,” he continued. “Would you similarly say a web designer doesn’t have to make a cake (sic) for an inter-racial marriage because they don’t agree with that from their religious point of view?”
“I think we are stretching the Lorie Smith case to be something that it is not,” Cobb replied. “She has a fundamental concern about same-sex marriage. It’s not the people, it’s I don’t want to write a speech. I have to literally write content and create beautiful imagery on something that violates my faith –that’s her case.”
“We haven’t seen a ruling yet, it sounds favorable from what folks are saying,” she continued. “It is because we protect speech it is a bedrock principle. It is so important that no one, not even a paying customer compels someone else to have to say or write words they don’t agree with. I think that’s the America we want to live in.”
“I want to live in a world where everybody gets served,” the CNN host shot back. “I want to live some a world where judgments aren’t made based on religious conviction. You respectfully didn’t answer me. I think the web designer could say, ‘Oh, my god, it’s an interracial marriage, I’m not designing a website.’ The baker could say ‘I’m not going to bake a cake for them.’ I want everybody to get served.”
Watch below or at the link: