ABC7Now I don’t own a hardware store, but even as a non-hardware store owning individual I’m pretty sure hanging a sign in the window that says ‘No Gays Allowed’ isn’t going to help business.
The phrase ‘even bad PR is good PR’ is being pushed to its limits and this backward-thinking chap has found out the hard way.
Jeff Amyx hit the headlines in 2015 for those exact reasons, seeing his shop window as a better place to exercise his first amendment than savvy marketing, he hanged a hate-filled sign that stated exactly that, hate. ‘No Gays Allowed By Order of Jeff Amyx’. Pretty bold that.
When called out, Amyx didn’t apologise or remove the sign. Oh no. The Baptist minister from Tennessee used it as an opportunity to show that he has freedom of speech and freedom to religion, which he exercised by offending and ostracising a segment of modern society due to prejudice.
Amyx Hardware & Roofing SuppliesAt the time, Amyx told local media:
A lot of people have called me and congratulated me.
People calling and threatening me. Telling me I would regret this. No I’ll never regret this.
A few months of backlash and he changed the sign to a less hateful, but still problematic:
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who would violate our rights of freedom of speech & freedom of religion.
He even added, he would serve homosexual customers but ‘Well I might preach to you a little while’. What an absolute charmer, right?
Fast forward a few years to Trump’s America, Amyx was emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling that favoured a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, so he decided to repost his anti-gay sign on his Grainger County store, Yahoo Lifestyle reports.
People haven’t forgotten old Amyx.
How does Jeff Amyx plan to identify a gay person if they stop in to buy some hardware? Does he think all gays looking to do some home improvement are going to be dressed like the construction worker from The Village People?
"No Gays Allowed" @TnAmyx pic.twitter.com/jweJCGukem
— Trump's Angry Boss (@DoYourJobTrump) June 7, 2018
For anyone wondering how to get ahold of Jeff Amyx the nasty bigot that put the "No Gays Allowed" sign in the window of his business because "God told him to", His hardware & roofing business can be reached at
(865) 497-3828.
Feel free to leave msg if coward refuses to answer pic.twitter.com/dn6Fm4qar0
— CatchTheWave! ? (@AdamSurfs1) June 7, 2018
This closeted gay man is Jeff Amyx of #amyxhardware. He's a "Christian" bigot who thinks it's totally within his right to discriminate against customers who feel are violating his "Christian freedoms" let's show him how wrong he is!!#bigot #gaypride https://t.co/SpnA1HDIye pic.twitter.com/wt6Fh4dB0r
— RedMenace (@Red_Menace206) June 7, 2018
Jeff Amyx who runs Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in Washburn, Tennessee posted a sign on his door that read, "No Gays Allowed", claiming he's using his First Amendment right!
I call for all of his wholesalers to stop selling Jeff Amyx any of his products. #BoycottAmyx pic.twitter.com/KZIa2EfV7M
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) June 7, 2018
It’s not just on Twitter where Amyx has been feeling the brunt of people’s opinions, his store has been getting some reviews on Yelp which aren’t exactly positive. Accurate by the looks of things, though.
Yelp
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YelpIf you thought this was just a Southern thing, you’d sadly be mistaken, as one New York couple found out recently when they were kicked out of their Uber by a driver because they kissed.
Alex Lovine, 26, and girlfriend Emma Pichl, 24, were riding with the service on Saturday night in Manhattan when the driver allegedly pulled over and told them to quite literally take a hike.
The young couple initially thought the man was having a laugh but once things turned a little more serious, they got out their phones to capture the damning moment.
Lovine said she and girlfriend Emma ordered an Uber to drive them from a friend’s birthday party in Brooklyn to another party in the city’s East Village around 5pm.
The driver can been opening the door to the backseat, saying:
It’s illegal. You can’t do this in the car. You aren’t allowed to do this.
Happy Pride Jeff Amyx and Backwards Uber Driver, you guys really need to chill the f*** out and join the world in 2018.
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Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated with a BA Journalism from University College Falmouth before most his colleagues were born. A previous editor of adult mags, he now enjoys bringing the tone down in the viral news sector.