I saw some more about that "freedom of religion" thing tonight on Washington Week. They said it started out in New Mexico several years ago when a photographer didn't want to do the photography at a gay wedding. I don't know why he didn't just say his schedule was full or something like that. He must have been trying to make a name for himself. You can get away with lots of things if you don't make a big deal out of it. You don't need to be overly secretive either, just don't make a public spectacle of yourself. I remember, some time ago, when they tried to re-institute registration for the draft. They weren't actually going to draft anyone, they just wanted a list of names in case they ever needed it in the future. It was in the news for awhile, and then it was dropped and we never heard of it again. I think most guys just blew it off. The only one who was prosecuted for it was a guy who wrote a letter to the President of the United States explaining why he refused to register, sending copies to the news media.
It is my understanding that not everybody who looks gay or acts gay is gay. Also that a lot of gay people don't look or act particularly gay. They might dress up all frilly for the annual Gay Pride Parade but, the rest of the year, you couldn't pick them out in a crowd walking down the street. I recently found out that the guy who has been doing our income tax for over a decade is gay. It came up in a casual conversation with my hypothetical wife, who said I was the only one in town who didn't know about it. Well, it just never occurred to me to ask him and, if it had, he might have told me it was none of my business, and he would have been right. Now if, the first time I went to see him, he had a big banner over the entrance to his office saying, "I'm gay and proud of it", I probably would have gone someplace else. But he didn't, and I didn't, and I'm not about to dump him now after all these years.
Other than the wedding photographer and the guy who makes the wedding cake, most businessmen wouldn't know if a customer was gay unless he told them that he was. I don't understand why a gay couple would deliberately hire somebody for their wedding who they knew didn't like gays. Weddings are stressful enough without having to worry if somebody like that was going to make a scene. Why would anybody, gay or not, want to force anybody to participate in their wedding against his will? Are they getting married because they love each other, or just to make a political statement?
As for the politicians who are weighing in on this, both pro and con, they are also probably more concerned with making a name for themselves than they are about doing the right thing.
I am not aware of anything the Town Fathers did to discourage doctors from performing abortions in Cheboygan. As far as I know, there just aren't any doctors around here who want to do that sort of thing. There are some doctors who won't deliver babies either, I think it has something to do with liability or malpractice insurance. I understand that there are abortion clinics where that's all they do. There probably isn't enough demand to justify opening one of those around here. I'm sure that, if there was enough money in it, somebody would be doing it.
I looked up saltpeter on Wiki. The name has been applied to a number of chemicals, mostly salts of potassium or sodium. Both sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are used as food preservatives, particularly in sausage and other smoked meats. Sodium nitrite additionally enhances the flavor and color of smoked meats. There has been some concern over the years that both chemicals might cause cancer, but studies have been generally inconclusive. Sodium nitrite is toxic when ingested in sufficient quantity, particularly to hogs, and has been used in poison bait to control wild hogs in regions where they have become a nuisance. I found no mention of any of the saltpeter type chemicals ever being deliberately fed to humans or animals to inhibit sexual activity, or that they are even capable of doing so.
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