A Christian pro-life group that was recently ejected from a Seattle coffee shop over its local activism is attracting hundreds of thousands of Facebook views after footage of the encounter was posted online.
Members of Abolish Human Abortion recently decided to order drinks in Seattle’s Bedlam coffee shop after posting and distributing pro-life pamphlets in the local community. Activists who joined Caleb Head and Caytie Davis on Oct. 1 were soon berated and told the leave when they were identified.
“I’m gay. You have to leave,” owner Ben Borgman said in the video.
“Are you denying us service?” Mr. Davis asked.
“I am. Yeah,” Mr. Borgman replied.
The confrontation about tolerance then escalated when activist Jonathan Sutherland was asked if he would watch a sex act.
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“If I go get my boyfriend and f- him in the a— right here you’re going to tolerate that?” Mr. Borgman asked.
“That would be your choice,” Mr. Sutherland said, the conservative website Red State reported Friday.
“Are you going to tolerate it? Answer my f-ing question! No, you’re going to sit right here and f-ing watch it! […] Well then I don’t have to f-ing tolerate this! Leave! All of you. Tell all your f-ing friends, don’t f-ing come here.”
A request by the activists to turn to Jesus was met with the response, “Yeah, I like a—. I’m not going to be saved by anything. I’d f- Christ in the a—. OK? He’s hot.”
The incident comes as the U.S. Supreme Court gears up to take the case of Jack Philliips, the Christian baker who was ordered by the the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to serve wedding cake to LGBT couples — or none at all.
The high court agreed in June to hear the case this fall.
The Bedlam coffee shop issued responses on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4 asking viewers to consider another side of the story.
“In the end, it’s all about context,” the owner wrote. “Everything is context. Out of context a comment can serve any argument. Take for example the phrase ’I will bring my boyfriend out here and f- him in the a—.’ out of context it could mean a slew of things. It’s delivery in this case was meant to shock and repulse the audience. Out of context it could be labeled a perversion, or a kink depending how you personally couch the subject. In context it was a response, a response to being shocked and repulsed. A revenge you could even call it, a weakness demonstrated in the typical, they hurt me, I will hurt them fashion.”
The 52-year-old owner said that his full exchange with the activists included one of the activists denying that graphic anti-abortion materials were their own.
Mr. Borgman also said that anti-abortion imagery was hidden within his shop.
“They were ready with that camera,” the owner wrote. “I was baptized Catholic, Roman Catholic actually, I’ve been to a few bible studies, read the entire book, more than once. To my understanding, and to speak in the religious vernacular; these people are working for Satan. The great trickster has deluded them into believing that hate is love, that rage is peace, and that lies are truth. The God I knew, the Jesus I was taught about would absolutely never ever print a poster with a hideous dead baby representation at ’what was clearly meant to insinuate’ at the hands of gays … suffice to the say the poster was gross, and the text on the back? Holy cow, whoever wrote that is in a lot of pain. I spoke to them in their own language.”
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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