KlawiterPersonally, if you don’t want to do business with me, I’d rather you let me know than let me inadvertently buy a product or service from you.
Now most business owners aren’t going to say anything, because they understand that bigotry isn’t good for business. But the ones that will go on Facebook or directly to the media to air their prejudices and stupidity, like the pizza place in Walkerton, Ind., are just so special.
Take Brian Klawiter. He’s a mechanic in Grandville, Mich., and owner of Dieseltec, who said he’d refuse service to gay people and if anyone argued gay rights with him, he’d fix the car with nuts and not bolts.
First, this guy is delusional. When was the last time you went to your mechanic and argued gay rights with them?
Oh, did I say mechanic. Unlicensed mechanic. It seems like getting that license goes against Klawiter’s civil rights and his religious beliefs, so Michigan is trying to get him to renew or put him out of business. So he does understand civil rights, just not for other people. And the state wouldn’t have gotten wind of this had he not made a media spectacle.
Several of his suppliers have insisted he remove their logos from his shop. They don’t want to be affiliated with that kind of hate. Seems auto parts suppliers have this funny idea that gays and lesbians and even transgender people use the exact same kinds of carburetors, alternators and other widgets that straight people put in their cars. They also pay the exact same money for them.
Also turns out that repairing a car improperly to cause injury can be considered murder or attempted murder. Michigan’s watching for faulty repairs and may charge him if found to have happened.
Of course if charged, it wouldn’t be Klawiter’s first brush with the law. He was convicted of assault in 1999 and then in 2001 for a parole violation. Serving gay people violates his “Christian” faith. Assault doesn’t.
And what do you do when you’re discriminated against for trying to discriminate against other people? You start a GoFundMe campaign. Seems Go Fund Me didn’t think it was such a hot idea to be associated with this campaign so after he raised $0, they pulled the page.
As a result of Klawiter’s tirade, Grandville is considering enacting a human rights ordinance. And now, not only the LGBT community in that part of Michigan knows where they probably shouldn’t get their cars repaired, but so do all of their friends, relatives and co-workers. Even “Christian” co-workers. What would happen if it came up in a conversation that you work with one of — them, you know, a gay.
See? Sometimes good things happen when we let the bigots show themselves.