A pair of Ohio videographers are getting a close-up of religious intolerance, thanks to a clash with local activists. Like a growing number of Americans, Courtney Schmackers is finding out firsthand what’s really behind the redefinition of marriage. Last month, the owner of Next Door Stories got what most Christian wedding vendors are starting to dread: an inquiry from a same-sex couple.

The email asked if they could schedule an appointment to talk with the videographers about filming their upcoming same-sex “wedding.” In a scene that’s played out all across the country, Courtney sent a polite response suggesting that they try another production company. “Thank you for reaching out about wedding videography… Unfortunately at this time, I do not offer services for same-sex weddings, but thank you for your inquiry!”

Instead of respecting the owners’ beliefs and finding another videographer, the women went to the press to exact revenge. In an interview with CNN, the couple kick-started their campaign to put Next Door Studios out of business. “I couldn’t believe it,” Jean Moffit said. “I thought this was a tight-knit community. We wanted to support local commerce and to get that kind of response was astounding.” After much thought, the couple told reporters that they’d filed a complaint with the Bexley Chamber of Commerce to make Schmacker pay for exercising her constitutional rights. “It is our hope,” they said, “that… (going) public will spearhead some much needed overdue (legislation).”

And unfortunately, we know exactly what kind of legislation they mean. This is the same playbook that’s been used in Houston, Springfield, Fayetteville, Utah, and others to kick down the door between government and religious liberty. Under the umbrella of these sexual orientation-gender identity (SOGI) ordinances, cities are quietly ushering in a fierce government crackdown on men and women of faith.

Of course, the interesting part of Courtney’s story is that it’s taking place in Ohio – one of the few states where natural marriage is still law and “sexual orientation” isn’t included in its anti-discrimination policy. But already, the Bexley Chamber is setting the wheels in motion for an ordinance that it could use to attack the beliefs of business owners. According to a spokesman, the board wants to “ensure this does not happen again. The Chamber Board believes that discrimination in any form is wrong and should not be tolerated… We (have begun) the process of rewriting our policies and guidelines.”

For Courtney, the nightmare is just beginning. But, like so many brave Americans in cake shops, classrooms, and courtrooms, she’s standing firm in her faith. “I made a business decision based on my spiritual beliefs and the biblical definition of marriage because I thought that I had a right to do that. Unfortunately, I gave the wrong answer to the wrong person, who decided to make a private issue into a public platform, and now I am fully experiencing the consequences. I am sorry you had to be exposed to it, and I’m open to any and all conversation regarding it.”

Courtney’s story will be one of countless others if the Supreme Court imposes same-sex “marriage” on the entire nation. These activists aren’t after a “live-and-let-live” policy. They’re on a march to force all Americans to celebrate and affirm what they do under the penalty of law.

UNdeniable: Global Community Calls out Genocide

If the President won’t listen to Congress, maybe he’ll listen to his friends at the U.N. The hardly-conservative international body is echoing what many of us have argued for months: that the Islamic State is guilty of religious genocide. In a report released [Thursday], the U.N. human rights office lent even more credibility to the claims that ISIS is targeting non-Muslims for extinction. Council members say they’ve found “information that points to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes,” and that the Security Council should “consider referring the situation in Iraq to the international criminal court.”

In interviews with more than 100 victims and witnesses, the U.N. insists that there is a pattern of attacks on Yazidis, Christians, and other religious minorities, whose women and children – if not murdered – were raped or forced into sexual slavery. This exactly what I – and others – suggested to Congress, most recently in last week’s Senate testimony.

The U.N.‘s report is significant because, shortly after the horror of the Holocaust, the international community established a legally-binding treaty which later became known as the Genocide Convention. It bars the targeting of a “religious group” for the purpose of “(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; © Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” While only one of these acts is required to constitute genocide, ISIS has possibly engaged in all of them with respect to Yazidis, Christians, and other religious groups. If the U.N. is now conceding what we’ve said all along then the United States and other countries have a legal obligation to stop it.

As I pointed out [Thursday] at an event with Syrian Christians, our silence only encourages those who work actively to diminish or even destroy this fundamental human right. America has moral obligation to speak and act on behalf of religious freedom. We must once again find our voice to speak and our courage to act.

“Married” with Children…

They say that children should be seen and not heard. And in the homosexual community, that’s taken on new meaning for kids raised in same-sex families. Now, years later, those same children have grown up – and what they have to say about their experience is a powerful rebuke of the domestic arrangements their parents are fighting for.

Earlier this month, four adults stepped out of the shadows, taking a tremendous risk to tell their moving – and sometimes harrowing – stories in briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court. That courage is breeding more courage, as others come forward to share, as only they can, what this drive to redefine the family has forgotten: the children.

In a compelling and eloquent letter to her moms for The Federalist, Heather Barwick says she is “letting (herself) out of the closet.” “I don’t support gay marriage,” she confesses. “But it might not be for the reasons that you think. It’s not because you’re gay. I love you, so much. It’s because of the nature of the same-sex relationship itself.” Growing up, she says, and even into her 20s, she defended same-sex “marriage.”

“It’s only with some time and distance from my childhood,” she explains, “that I’m able to reflect on my experiences and recognize the long-term consequences that same-sex parenting had on me. And it’s only now, as I watch my children loving and being loved by their father each day, that I can see the beauty and wisdom in traditional marriage and parenting.”

> Gay marriage doesn’t just redefine marriage, but also parenting. It promotes and normalizes a family structure that necessarily denies us something precious and foundational. It denies us something we need and long for, while at the same time tells us that we don’t need what we naturally crave. That we will be okay. But we’re not. We’re hurting… It’s not just me. There are so many of us. Many of us are too scared to speak up and tell you about our hurt and pain, because for whatever reason it feels like you’re not listening. That you don’t want to hear. If we say we are hurting because we were raised by same-sex parents, we are either ignored or labeled a hater. This isn’t about hate at all. I know that you really have been hated and that you really have been hurt… But that’s not me. That’s not us.

If you know someone who’s searching for reasons to support marriage, I encourage you to read and forward Heather’s story. The experience changed her life – and hearing it might change yours.

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This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.