A Catholic farmer in Charlotte, Michigan has been barred by the City of East Lansing from the farmers market where he has been selling his produce for years.
According to the farmer, Stephen Tennes, the city’s ruling came after he refused to host a same-sex wedding at his farm. He has filed a lawsuit against the city for violating his civil rights.
I hope he wins. But in the meantime, I honestly think this is the kind of thing that will help keep states like Michigan trending red in future elections. Of course, Michigan could easily go back to blue, and no doubt the primary factor in favor of Trump’s flipping the state in 2016 was economic, but there was also an undeniable backlash in middle America to the overreach of the progressive social agenda during the eight years of the Obama presidency. It’s a pretty big leap from saying gay people should be able to get married to saying anyone who thinks marriage should be between a man and a woman should be shunned from society. The fact is, most Michiganders won’t see Stephen Tennes as a bigot. They’ll see him as their hard-working neighbor and a pretty regular guy, who just happens to have the same views on marriage that practically everyone else did until five minutes ago.
That’s where the Left misread the American public, big time, and it’s going to continue to hurt them in elections unless they recognize it.
Here’s hoping they don’t. Michigan looks good in red.