GoFundMe modifies policy statement after ejecting Christian business owners
GoFundMe, the crowdfunding site which pulled two Christian businesses from its site, has expanded its policy.
The site recently took down the pages of Sweet Cakes by Melissa and Arlene’s Flowers after the two businesses refused to service same-sex weddings.
The Melissa Klein campaign for the bakery raised $109,000. The florist business campaign raised more than $174,000. GoFundMe has said in statements that the Kleins and Ms. Stutzman will be able to keep the fundraising dollars.
“Lesbian” wedding mock-cake at the Roma Gay Pride in 2008. Picture by Stefano Bolognini via wikimedia commons.
The old policy said the site could not support: “Campaigns in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.”
According to the Washington Times, the site’s new policy includes a ban on campaigns that attempt to defend “claims of discriminatory acts.”
“Who will determine what a ‘discriminatory act’ is? Will the term be decided according to legal standards? If so, which standards?” said Travis Weber, a lawyer and director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council. “Or will it be subject to the same arbitrary decision-making we’ve seen from GoFundMe so far?”
The old policy was in place when the website pulled the bakery and florist crowdfunding campaigns. Lawyers interviewed earlier by The Washington Times said the policy wasn’t enough cause to kill the campaigns.
“GoFundMe may want to appear as if it has a neutral policy prohibiting funds from being raised for certain activities,” Weber said. “But it is apparent that GoFundMe is seeking to slap several words onto their ‘policy’ merely to cover up the reality that they actually dropped the Kleins’ page because they were scared of cranky LGBT activists.”
“It’s really quite startling, the approach that GoFundMe has taken, because it’s clear that it’s not enough to have the government just redefine marriage or punish those who disagree, but they’re really trying to ruin every aspect of the lives of those who disagree,” Kristen Waggoner, the Alliance Defending Freedom attorney said.
The company has also broadened the disclaimer at the top of the page, which now says, “GoFundMe relies on its terms as a guideline in the decision-making process to arrive at its long-standing right to remove any campaign at any time for any reason. GoFundMe will continue to reserve the right to amend its terms as it deems necessary to support the wide and varied use-cases it encounters on its growing platform.”
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