Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphlets

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Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphlets

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:13 pm

Two men who ordered programs for their September wedding from a popular printing company but instead received a boxful of anti-gay pamphlets warning, “Satan entices your flesh with evil desires,” have filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and emotional pain.

It'd be almost funny if it weren't so sad how these types of religious folk seem to think that all they have to do is say "Well, I believe...." or warn against Satan and the other party will immediately stop whatever they're against and convert. I can't help but wonder if it works in reverse. Like, if I informed these idiots that they were goats, would they get down on all fours, try to eat cans, and suddenly be into urolagnia?
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby Jeckel » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:47 pm

I can't help but think there is a group of anti-gay people sitting around confused and angry that Vistaprint sent them gay wedding invites instead of the satanic panic pamphlets they ordered. :P
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby iMURDAu » Wed Jan 17, 2018 9:05 pm

Isn't this a form of corporate stewardship? For the benefit of the public?

You've got a sin in your printing job? Well now you're just going to receive the Temptations (not the singers, or the cat treats) pamphlet! Learn not to have sin in your handouts and business cards and you'll get what you order! Have a good day...

Spoiler: show
in Hell :twisted:
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby cmsellers » Wed Jan 17, 2018 9:39 pm

The issue isn't that the pamphlets were homophobic per se, but that the printer 1. did not fulfill the contract and 2. sent some very frightening material to their house. They definitely have a breach of contract case and may have some other cause of action (intimidation? intentional infliction of emotional distress?) as well.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby sunglasses » Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:39 pm

I dunno, but something feels off with this case.

Reserving judgement for now.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby Lindvaettr » Thu Jan 18, 2018 3:42 am

sunglasses wrote:I dunno, but something feels off with this case.

Reserving judgement for now.


I agree. While I'm fully aware that there absolutely are people who are that bigoted, and the people responsible for this very well might be such people, it's entirely possible there's more to the story. It's already a weird enough story that I wouldn't be surprised by additional weirdness. Labeling someone so extremely bigoted and awful as that is definitely not something I'll just attach until more information is out there.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby ghijkmnop » Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:08 pm

Redacted
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Last edited by ghijkmnop on Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby Lindvaettr » Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:12 pm

I wonder if this incident will lead to a push for Vistaprint and other printers to create or increase restrictions on what they print. I'd wouldn't be surprised if a group of censoriously-minded people begin insisting that Vistaprint shouldn't even be printing anything that could be interpreted, at least in this context, as anti-homosexual.

I guess we should stay tuned to find out what happens next.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby DamianaRaven » Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:22 pm

I usually get blasted for saying this, but I don't think hate speech should be protected as a right, any more than I support the freedom to own slaves. Every genocidal atrocity in human history has started with someone saying a bunch of shitty things with nobody standing up to say "cram that shit before I slap some decency into and/or out of you." It doesn't take much for someone's "personal opinion" to become a rallying cry.

There are two kinds of freedom in this world - freedom to and freedom from. I think this country puts too much emphasis on the former and not enough on the latter.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby iMURDAu » Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:01 pm

ghijkmnop wrote:Vistaprint has responded to this, and has made it clear that this was a swapped shipment. They have apologized, and guaranteed that they would investigate whether the swap was done deliberately.

http://news.vistaprint.com/our-ceo-and- ... t-incident


I fucking knew they'd blame a third party! I wish I'd have put that in my last post but I thought, nah they've got things together where it's under one umbrella.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby PSTN » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:17 am

DamianaRaven wrote:There are two kinds of freedom in this world - freedom to and freedom from.


Little bit off topic here, but I can't help but notice that this was said verbatim by Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale when she was explaining why the new theocracy was a good thing.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby DamianaRaven » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:41 am

PSTN wrote:Little bit off topic here, but I can't help but notice that this was said verbatim by Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale when she was explaining why the new theocracy was a good thing.


That doesn't make it any less true. It's not unlike how the (wise and benevolent) teachings of Jesus Christ get twisted around into the (greedy and spiteful) shit show that is modern "Christianity."
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby DoglovingJim » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:49 am

Jeckel wrote:I can't help but think there is a group of anti-gay people sitting around confused and angry that Vistaprint sent them gay wedding invites instead of the satanic panic pamphlets they ordered. :P


I like to imagine it went a bit like this.
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Re: Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Pamphle

Postby RatElemental » Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:42 pm

DamianaRaven wrote:I usually get blasted for saying this, but I don't think hate speech should be protected as a right, any more than I support the freedom to own slaves. Every genocidal atrocity in human history has started with someone saying a bunch of shitty things with nobody standing up to say "cram that shit before I slap some decency into and/or out of you." It doesn't take much for someone's "personal opinion" to become a rallying cry.

There are two kinds of freedom in this world - freedom to and freedom from. I think this country puts too much emphasis on the former and not enough on the latter.

That's all well and good, until the shoe ends up on the other foot and it's the guy telling the bigoted asshole off that is the one getting censored. Freedom of speech is necessary to kill bad ideas like that (as you pointed out in your post right there, even), because it lets them out into the open where most people can point and laugh, potential recruits decide not to be laughed at, and they don't even have the option to say "They're censoring us so we must be right/they have something to hide/they're afraid of us!"

It means we all have to be more on the ball about calmly and rationally explaining why the bigots are wrong, and we can never truly be done with the task, but sweeping it under the rug just leaves the problem to fester and doesn't actually fix it. It turns what should be a laughingstock into an actual serious counterculture movement that actually has a god damn point, at least on the censorship issue. And that will be enough to win support by people who aren't bigots, because that's exactly how every single inch of progress on these issues started off as in the first place: A vocal minority that had a point about how they were being oppressed and slowly won over popular opinion because of it.

Well, just my two cents on the issue, anyway.
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