Well, I guess it's time for me to come clean here.
The reason I was quite vague on the situation in the OP is that I completely fabricated it (though similar events may well have happened for all I know).
The reason for my deception is that I wanted to test something. Just before I made this poll I was reading a Christian article on gay rights. It mentioned a Christian photographer who was being sued for refusing to photograph a gay marriage and the article asked whether the people behind the lawsuit (and gay rights proponents in general) would condemn a gay photographer refusing to cover an anti gay marriage rally just as strongly (or think he should face a lawsuit at all). This got me thinking about my own position and that of the atheist community. I decided to test the suggestion that gay rights proponents (such as the general atheist community) would apply their views selectively by posting this poll here and an identical one (but with the situation reversed) here on AF.org. I figured that if both polls were consistent with each other and either supported or did not support the photographer then that would demonstrate reasonable objectivity across our communities as a whole. If the polls returned conflicting answers both supporting the homosexual person then it would demonstrate a bias in our communities towards supporting the homosexual over the Christian, regardless of the situation.
I'm pleased to say that our communities passed my experiment. Both polls were consistent with each other and supported the photographer. TTA voted that it was the right of a homosexual photographer to refuse a religious organisation's event and AF voted that it was the right of the Christian photographer to refuse a gay organisation's event.
The reason I was quite vague on the situation in the OP is that I completely fabricated it (though similar events may well have happened for all I know).
The reason for my deception is that I wanted to test something. Just before I made this poll I was reading a Christian article on gay rights. It mentioned a Christian photographer who was being sued for refusing to photograph a gay marriage and the article asked whether the people behind the lawsuit (and gay rights proponents in general) would condemn a gay photographer refusing to cover an anti gay marriage rally just as strongly (or think he should face a lawsuit at all). This got me thinking about my own position and that of the atheist community. I decided to test the suggestion that gay rights proponents (such as the general atheist community) would apply their views selectively by posting this poll here and an identical one (but with the situation reversed) here on AF.org. I figured that if both polls were consistent with each other and either supported or did not support the photographer then that would demonstrate reasonable objectivity across our communities as a whole. If the polls returned conflicting answers both supporting the homosexual person then it would demonstrate a bias in our communities towards supporting the homosexual over the Christian, regardless of the situation.
I'm pleased to say that our communities passed my experiment. Both polls were consistent with each other and supported the photographer. TTA voted that it was the right of a homosexual photographer to refuse a religious organisation's event and AF voted that it was the right of the Christian photographer to refuse a gay organisation's event.
'Always you have to contend with the stupidity of men' - Henry David Thoreau
