Oklahoma State Senator Receives Death Threats Over Business Religious Freedom Bill
A bill Oklahoma State Senator Joseph Silk (R) unsuccessfully introduced in the state legislature to reinforce the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act prompted an angry response from the LGBT community.
Concerned by the conflicts arising in other states between small businesses and gays over same-sex weddings, Oklahoma State Senator Joseph Silk (R) introduced religious freedom legislation earlier this year. SB 440, the “Oklahoma Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2015,” would prohibit the government from requiring businesses to offer goods, services or employment if to do so would be contrary to a sincerely held religious belief regarding sex, gender or sexual orientation. Businesses could not be sued for this refusal.
SB 440 never even made it out of committee, but a comment Senator Silk made about the legislation was reported in The New York Times and has resulted in death threats against him and his family.
“The L.G.B.T. movement is the main thing, the primary thing that’s going to be challenging religious liberties and the freedom to live out religious convictions,” Senator Silk said. “And I say that sensitively, because I have homosexual friends. They don’t have a right to be served in every single store. People need to have the ability to refuse service if its violates their religious convictions.”
The LGBT community reacted angrily to his remarks, and demanded he apologize. Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow issued this statement:
Senator Silk may see himself as a crusader, but the argument he is making actually supports undermining the state and federal laws that desegregated lunch counters, ensured guide dogs would be welcome in retail shops, and guaranteed every American equal access to our shared public spaces. There’s no legal basis for Senator Silk’s assertions; they are rooted entirely in dislike for a particular group of people, and that is a terrible way to make policy.
Oklahoma State Senator Joseph Silk (R)
Senator Silk did not apologize, and told a talk show host afterwards that his comments in The New York Times had been taken out of context. “I don’t believe I have the right to be served in every store.” He posted a further explanation on his website:
A bill that I recently introduced (SB 440) would protect businesses and religious entities who run their organizations according to their religious beliefs from being forced to violate their religious convictions in their businesses.
This has outraged the LGBT community and they are crying discrimination while making themselves the only “target”; in reality it has nothing to do with them. The intent of the bill is to protect private property rights and religious liberty. As a legislator, I will always fight to protect people’s liberty to live their lives according to their beliefs and convictions.
The problem with the current LGBT movement is that they have zero tolerance or consideration of other peoples rights, and yes they are a threat to our freedoms and liberties in the United States and Oklahoma.
Now the Senator is receiving death threats. “Over the past three days, I have received literally hundreds of e-mails and death threats and phone calls,” he told Bryan Fischer of the AFR Talk Radio Network. “It has been absolutely crazy.” That includes “death threats to my children now, saying that they need to go to Hell.”
Other states are also considering similar religious freedom legislation. The legislation is modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or R.F.R.A., which was signed into law under President Clinton. Currently, 19 states have their own version of R.F.R.A. in place. They require the government to show a compelling interest in order to infringe upon someone’s religious freedom, and have been used to protect religious minorities, such as permitting a Native American student to wear his hair long to school.
Several Christian businesses have found themselves the subject of lawsuits or prosecution for refusing to provide services for same-sex marriages. Florist Barronelle Stutzman of Washington state was sued by the Washington State Attorney General and two gay men after she refused to provide flowers for the couple’s wedding. A judge ruled in February that she violated the state’s anti-discrimination law. A Christian printer in Kentucky was found guilty of discrimination by a civil rights commission and ordered to attend diversity training after he refused to print gay pride T-shirts. In Oregon, Sweet Cakes by Melissa could face up to $200,000 in fines and damages for declining to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. Cases like these are increasing around the country.
Senator Silk told Fischer he is extremely concerned about where this is all going:
And what’s frustrating is the church has relatively remained silent. There is a tremendous amount of spiritual warfare going on with this particular case. The LGBT activists do not want people to have freedom. They do not want people to be able to exercise their religious convictions. This is about freedom. This is about religious liberty. Very soon the church won’t have the right, according to the government, to preach that homosexuality is wrong. That’s where this road is going. That’s why this is so important.
Senator Silk intends to propose the legislation again next year.