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Tennessee Hardware Store Puts Up 'No Gays Allowed' Sign

Tennessee Hardware Store Puts Up 'No Gays Allowed' Sign

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The owner, a Baptist minister, says 'I'm standing for what I believe in' and has no plans to take the sign down.

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The owner of an east Tennessee hardware store placed an anti-LGBT sign in the window of his business that he says expresses his religious beliefs. The sign, handwritten on a blank piece of 8-by-10-inch paper, says in all capital letters, "NO GAYS ALLOWED."

Jeff Amyx, who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in Grainger County, Tenn., says he taped the sign to his store's window in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage and because he feels gay and lesbian relationships are against his religion.

Amyx is also a Baptist minister.

According to Knoxville TV station WBIR, it occured to him Monday morning "that homosexual people are not afraid to stand for what they believe in. He said it showed him that Christian people should be brave enough to stand for what they believe in."

"They gladly stand for what they believe in, why can't I?" Amyx told WBIR. "They believe their way is right, I believe it's wrong. But yet I'm going to take more persecution than them because I'm standing for what I believe in." Amyx said he has no plans to take the sign down.

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The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.
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