My parents and I turned down a couple of ladies to rent our house because they chose to live as lesbians. In our homes, we would rather please Christ. The City of Evansville held these grounds for refusal as impermissible and ordered us to pay $41,000.00. An October 31, 2021 post on Facebook elicited a number of questions and objections. It is hoped that thoughtful answers will honor the people who offered feedback, provide quick answers to the larger community, and provide basis for further consideration.
These answers correspond to my knowledge at present. This page is to be updated as I learn more.
Q: When did this happen? Brandon Douglas, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: The complaint was in May, 2020. The City of Evansville found against us and ordered payment in October, 2021.
Q: How did they learn your motive for refusing them? Caleb Rodriquez, et al, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: We told them.
Q: Why give them a reason to sue you? You know there are usually plenty of reasons to reject any interested party. Did you check their credit? Why didn’t you reject them over a technicality? Don’t tell them your motive for rejecting them! Robert Daniel Leachman, Jacky Warren, et al, public comments, Facebook.com, 2021
A: I do reject people for other reasons. However, GLBTQ+ crusaders exemplify a passionate evangelism for their cause of sexual autonomy that leaves me convicted and questioning the sincerity of my own profession. Does Christ merit equally passionate evangelistic devotion? If I profess that He does, does my behavior comport with my profession? I must confess Christ before men. Not only must I confess Christ before men, I must confess him where the conflict is hottest and the stakes are highest. To avoid conflict and remain silent in this situation where Christ is being denied is to deny him before men. Of this behavior, Jesus said “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Mt 10:32,33)
Q: You can confess Christ without breaking the law! Private conversation, 2021
A: It depends on whether that law affirms or denies the law of God. When the law of a civil authority contradicts the law of God, true and righteous submission is to obey God rather than man. Some examples include the Hebrew midwives, Rahab the Jericho harlot, Daniel and his three friends, Jesus, the apostles, Christians who died under the Roman emperors, and unnamed and uncounted people who have followed their example. Christ is truly confessed as being what He says of himself, the Lord of all including sexual identity, sexual orientation, and sexual practice. To confess Christ as anything but the Lord of all, is to not confess him at all, but to deny him and instead to confess an imaginary counterfeit.
Q: Is your family united in your response? Jeremy Brown, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: We are.
Q: Would you also refuse someone who was living in a heterosexual relationship out of wedlock? Jenna Greer, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: Yes we do and will continue to do so.
Q: Would you also refuse someone who is cheating on their spouse? Jenna Greer, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: Yes, if we know about the cheating.
Q: To rent to a family, do you require that their marriage be licensed by the State? Stíofáinín Drayton, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: There is no basis in scripture to require such formalities as state licensure or church ceremony. People usually reveal their mindset when they introduce themselves. I go by that.
Q: Did Jesus ever turn away a person in need because of their lifestyle? Haunnah McIntosh, public comment, Facebook.com, 2021
A: This question deserves a more in-depth response because it resonates with many and reflects widespread sentiment. To correctly apprehend the answer, we must look at what Jesus saw as needs and at the people that Jesus turns away. To offer a quick response, Jesus sees an individual’s need in terms of their eternal life or death. He asked rhetorically, “what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and yet lose his own soul?” (Mt 16:26 and Mk 8:36) Jesus turns away all except those who totally submit to him, putting Him above every other goal, affection, and orientation, including life itself (Lk 14:26). This requirement would be outrageous for anyone except for the God and Savior who created us and died for us. From Him, such a requirement is only reasonable. I am attempting to live accordingly, asking my fellow-man to do so as well, and asking that you judge me on the basis of that standard.
Q: Must gay people live homeless under bridges? A telephone conversation with an attorney, 2020
A: My refusal applies only to the homes that I manage as a stewardship to Christ. These are very small in a big world. There are other houses to rent. The question immediately at issue is not whether gay people must be homeless, but rather whether the GLBTQ+ crusade and their system of morality will be imposed by the City of Evansville even into my homes where it will be affirmed and God denied. I choose to follow God’s system of morality and reject theirs in my homes; they would impose theirs and deny God’s.
Q: You admit that you would rent to a divorced man, but you refuse this couple. Arbitrary much? Private Thanksgiving day conversation, 2021
A: God, in his law, recognizes divorce, sometimes providing it as a remedy, but homosexual practice is never permitted for any reason. Renting to a divorcee, but not renting a house for the practice of fornication, adultery, or homosexuality is not arbitrary, but is guided by God’s Law/Word.
Q: Jesus said, “if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” How are you obeying these commands? A question of myself, 2021
A: This is Matthew 5:38-42. In the context of interpersonal disputes, the accepted ethic at the time was “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Jesus instructs his disciples not to press charges for personal revenge. My application of this text to this situation is: if the young ladies who complained, or the City of Evansville, succeed in their quest to take away from me $41,000.00, or perhaps even my family’s home, my focus should not be on personal revenge such as suing them back, rather I should follow the example of the believing Hebrews to whom it was said that “you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance” (He 10:35). Should this admonition, apart from the rest of scripture, guide my response to the girls’ complaint and the City’s order? No; I must apply all of the scripture to all of life. Looking at the response of the faithful throughout history, commands by civil authorities which contradicted the commands of God were steadfastly opposed, notwithstanding the personal cost.
Q: They were not asking for homosexual favors. How do you see their system of morality being imposed on you? A question of myself, 2021
A: The GLBTQ+ movement, which now includes the City of Evansville, has adopted a system of morality which contradicts God. The City, as a god, demands that their values, rather than God’s values, be imposed in this home that I steward for Christ. This is how the GLBTQ+ system of morality is being imposed on me.
Q: Fines of $41,000.00? When operating within a jurisdiction, we must follow the rules of that jurisdiction. Jesus said that we must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Email from a friend 2021.
A: Does this passage on taxation speak to a dispute over who is the Lord over sex? Who made man and who made sex? Remember the rest of the sentence (found in Matthew 22 and Luke 20)? Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” If tax money bore Caesar’s image, whose image do we bear? The human family is made by God, belongs to God, must obey God, and stands accountable to God. We bear God’s image. Christians in the first century affirmed Christ, not Caesar, as Lord over all. I likewise affirm Christ, not the City, as the Lord over sex. The City is rebelling against Christ the Lord. This rebellion I may not join but must oppose.
lukekalemyers 
Very well thought out biblical responses to some very pointed questions. To proclaim Christ in all situations especially under duress and claim it all as a blessing should be the desire of every Christian!
God bless you and your family!