Some people have no sense of humor. Case in point, instead of laughing at the ironic mistake, a Pennsylvania gay couple is suing the printing company that accidentally sent them religious pamphlets instead of the wedding programs they had ordered.
The couple believes that the religious pamphlets they were mistakenly sent are anti-gay screeds. However, it appears that the pamphlets are simply encouraging all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to avoid temptation to sin, with no specific sin being named. It includes statements like, “The supreme tempter is Satan who uses our weaknesses to lead us into sin. You must understand where temptations come from if you desire to change the way you live.”
Right off the bat, it’s hard to see how this was anything but an honest mistake.
The heavy-handed (and humorless) lawsuit plays the persecution card right off the bat, though:
Although the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135
S.Ct. 2584 (2015) that gay couples have a Constitutional right to marry, the assault on the rights of gay people who chose to get married carries on. Late last year, the Supreme Court took argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd.. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm., No. 16-111, where a baker refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Now, Vistaprint – the custom paper goods manufacturer – has engaged in its own attack on gay marriage. Rather than send Plaintiffs the custom wedding programs they had purchased, Vistaprint instead sent Plaintiffs literature with hateful, discriminatory and anti-gay messages equating their relationship to Satan’s temptation. This conduct is morally repugnant and Vistaprint must be held accountable.
Notice how the lawsuit takes the opportunity to articulate the leftist belief that other people shouldn’t be allowed to live according to their beliefs. Even if you believe that Vistaprint sent the anti-gay pamphlets on purpose, it should be obvious that a baker being forced to do something that violates his religious beliefs is vastly different.
Vistaprint, however, appears mortified at the mix-up, not to mention that there is no good end-game for a business to do something like this on purpose. Furthermore, it makes less sense considering that the religious pamphlets aren’t even explicitly anti-gay. If Vistaprint did want to torpedo their own business, they could’ve done so in a manner that makes clear their views on homosexual relationships.
The Boston Herald published a statement from Vistaprint that makes the unequivocal claim that the mistake was not intentional. “Vistaprint would never discriminate against customers for their sexual orientation,” company spokeswoman Sara Nash said. “We pride ourselves on being a company that celebrates diversity and enables customers all over the world to customize products for their special events.”
The couple, of course, firmly believes that Vistaprint did this on purpose to cause them “emotional pain because they were clearly targeted due to their sexual orientation.”
Well, as evidenced from the religious pamphlet, they were most definitely not “clearly targeted,” unless reading between the lines, assuming motive, and jumping to conclusions equal up to “clearly targeted.”
This gay couple should ask Vistaprint to return their money plus pay for any additional expenses they incurred since they had to print their wedding programs themselves. A frivolous lawsuit makes them look petty and vindictive. Of course, as has become increasingly apparent, leftists are far more concerned with forcing their worldview on everyone else than they are with fairness and consistency. With that in mind, I guess it makes perfect sense that a gay couple would cry persecution over this obviously unintentional and, frankly, funny mistake.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member