A Tennessee man who put up a "No Gays Allowed" sign outside his hardware store in 2015 has hung it back up in "celebration" of the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing a Colorado baker the right to not serve a same-sex couple.
Jeff Amyx first posted the sign at his Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies store in Grainger County three years ago after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. The Baptist minister believes gay and lesbian couples are against his religion, reports Syracuse.
Following the outcry, Amyx took down the sign and replaced it with a modified version reading: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of religion."
However, the original "No Gays Allowed" sign has returned to the store in the wake of the Supreme Court 7-2 majority ruling in favor of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple in 2012, citing his religious beliefs.
"I was shocked. I was really shocked because of the track record of our Supreme Court," Amyx told WBIR.
"Christianity is under attack. 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," Amyx added. "This is 'happy days' for Christians all over America, but dark days will come."
In their ruling on the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop against The Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the court said although Colorado law can protect gay people in acquiring products and services on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public, the law "must be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion."
"To Phillips, his claim that using his artistic skills to make an expressive statement, a wedding endorsement in his own voice and of his own creation, has a significant First Amendment speech component and implicates his deep and sincere religious beliefs," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.
Kennedy added that the decision does not set a precedent for all cases, with Amyx adding he does not believe future incidents will see the same results.
"The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market," Kennedy wrote.
