Bigotry & Stone

Seems a local Granite company, Southern Style Granite, down in Baton Rouge (you know, the kind of company that supplies counter tops and things to interior decorators?) doesn't want to do business with "our kind".

They even seem rather enthused about making their distaste for LGBT folks rather clear.

Fortunately, while things could always turn around, things like that don't play so well anymore.

My good friend and shooting buddy, Ambulance Driver, was gracious enough to make me aware of this little faux pas and suggest that sharing on Facebook and other social networks might be a fine thing. Perhaps even Digg might be a worthwhile forum for exploring this topic.

The story has gone national, with the oft-reviled Dan Savage of The Stranger picking it up on the SLOG, TOTWTYTR has jumped in, Southern Style Granite's homophobic antics find mention over at Adventures of a Drama Filled Mom, Southern Style Granite finds similar mention over at Care2, the story pops up on Reddit, again over at Void Where Prohibited, at FreeTalkLive, at LazyCircle, and Bullet Points posts a most excellent analysis.

Just what did the kids at Southern Style Granite do to earn this ire? Well, it seems (according to Kevin Serrin, Chairman of the Capitol City Alliance) a gay couple was patronizing Southern Style Granite when one of the owners rushed over and asked if they were a couple. Upon an affirmative response, the couple was informed that Southern Style Granite "does not do business with your kind."

Serrin tells us he and his partner then independently verified this with their own visit to Southern Style Granite.

Now, as a gay libertarianish semi-conservative (fiscally conservative, socially moderate) gun-owning former (hopefully) activist this gripes me more than a bit. That such bigotry still exists saddens, but does not surprise me.

That these morons will be used as a feces-laden stick to smear everyone to the right of Mao as homophobic bigots just downright pisses me off at both both those who would stoop to such tactics and the jerks at Southern Style Granite that by their bigotry and stupidity made it possible.

May digestion of both the owners of Southern Style Granite and those who would use them as a tool for ad hominem attacks shift into a high velocity reverse mode such that they live a long miserable life hoovering up barbed wire and sharp objects.