June 24, 2014 11:09 AM UTC

Texas Radio: Colorado Puts Anti-Gays "In Concentration Camps"

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• by: Colorado Pols

​Media Matters for America reports, the case of Lakewood bakery owner Jack Phillips, who, while open to the public as a baker and meeting the legal test of a "public accommodation," just can't bring himself to bake a cake for a gay couple, is turning into a frightening business in the minds of right-wing talk radio hosts and the "family values" activists who love them:

Texas Values president Jonathan Saenz agreed with a right-wing radio host that gay activists are trying to put Christians in concentration camps, asserting that the gay rights movement wants "to put people in jail" if they disagree with marriage equality and "the homosexual lifestyle."

In a June 20 interview with Raging Elephants Radio, Saenz condemned a recent Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruling affirming that a Denver-area baker had violated the state's non-discrimination law by refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex couple. Host Claver Kamau-Imani asked Saenz whether the ruling was tantamount to sending the baker to a "concentration camp." Saenz agreed, asserting that there's "no question" gay rights supporters ultimately aim to imprison opponents of LGBT equality…

The meaty stuff transcribed:

KANAU-IMANI: Alright, let's get back to Colorado…so the homosexual couple, whether it's man and man, woman and woman, whatever, they go to this specially created commission to deal with this, file a complaint against the business, and so the commission says 'No, you're gonna make this cake, plus, you're going to go to concentration camp,' essentially. Is that what you're telling us, Jonathan?

SAENZ: That's right, that's right. [Pols emphasis]

Now first of all, the state Civil Rights Commission merely upheld a judge's ruling against Phillips from last year. The judge imposed no fines against Phillips, simply ordering him to, you know, stop discriminating. Reportedly, Phillips must submit quarterly statements affirming that he is no longer discriminating in his business, and make sure his employee policies are clear discrimination isn't legal. But just so everybody reading this understands, the potential penalty for discriminating against gay people in your Colorado place of business does not now and never did include "concentration camps."

To be honest, the worst part may be having to explain this at all. If you have to actually persuade someone that no, the state of Colorado is not putting anti-gay discriminators in camps, there's a good chance that individual isn't worth the effort.