The absurdity of it all. A WBND-TV reporter travels 21 miles to ask if a small-town pizzeria would serve pizza at a gay wedding. Owners, Kevin O'Connor, and his daughter, Crystal, never suspected that the reporter was a Judas goat leading them to the slaughter.

Of course I would be glad to serve anyone, replied Crystal, but to participate in a same-sex wedding would violate my Christian beliefs.

WBND-TV got what it wanted. The “interview” was titled, “ RFRA: Michiana Business Wouldn't Cater A Gay Wedding.” In an instant, their lives were upended, changed forever.

The RFRA, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, was the real focus of the “interview.” In some quarters, it was a hugely unpopular bill. The opposition wanted to cast it in the worst possible light. They succeeded.

Deaths threats, non-stop harassing phone calls, pickets, threats of arson, clouded their every moment. Business came to a stand-still. The restaurant was closed. Crystal was forced to quit her second job. She and her father were without income hiding in fear for their lives.

The story caught fire. It became national news, but for the O'Connors none of it was good news. The media was not their friend. Father and daughter stood alone, terrified and bewildered, while a storm of controversy swirled around them.

Then a miracle happened.

A crowd-sourcing site, GoFundMe, was opened to help the embattled pair survive. Immediately donations started to pour in from every state in the union. In just four days an astronomical $843,000 was raised. The account was closed but donations continued through other sources. Now it may be more than $1 million.

But why the hysteria? Crystal's reply showed no animosity; it was even conciliatory. Yet the Left went apoplectic. Why?

The LGBT coalition---lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender---doesn't function on reason. Their weapons are raw emotions. They're tough, dedicated, united, and fight under a pirate's black flag: it demands everything and gives nothing. Their forte is outrage, violence, riots, and social chaos, until they get all of what they want.

And it works.

The governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, knows what it's like to be in the cross-hairs of the LGBT. He was pillorized for signing the RFRA. In effect, Pence recanted.

The revised version of Indiana's RFRA was eviscerated.

But there's an irony here that has escaped notice.

Almost 400 years ago 102 refugees disembarked from the Mayflower. They gave up all they had to step on a foreign shore 3,000 miles from home. Yet they gained something of greater value than all they left behind: religious freedom. This small band of brothers and others like them established a new nation where freedom would reign.

About 170 years later their decedents would write a Constitution that guaranteed freedom of religion in the First Amendment to that Constitution.

Among those freedoms delineated and protected in the Constitution are private property rights. It is the owner's right to use his property or his business as he wishes. The right to discriminate is an indispensable element of property rights.

Some readers, including this writer, remember signs, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” They were posted to prevent discomfort to patrons or interference in business.

A proprietor could refuse service to anyone, for any reason. Government approval was not required, neither did it have to pass a popularity contest, or even make sense. If the owner did not want to serve people with red hair on Thursday, well, that was his right.

The right to discriminate was recognized for 188 years, from 1776 until 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. This law nullified private property rights though its intention was laudable.

Many Americans found “Whites Only” signs repugnant. They sought to correct what they felt was morally wrong, though legally right through legislation.

But freedom comes at a price. Freedom's true test is protecting the unpopular expressions of Constitutional rights, expressions that are offensive, even repugnant as “Whites Only” signs were.

We failed that test. In so doing, we have ignited what is now called a “culture war.” A perpetual trench warfare between the Right and the Left where neither side gains victory. It will not end well. Wars never do.

Postscript: Memories Pizza reopened Apr. 10 with a full house, a waiting line, and no protesters.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA