A flower shop in Nashville refused to serve a Republican event and has urged other businesses to follow suit, citing the recent shooting at a Christian school.
Alex Vaughn and Quinn Kiesow, owners of FLWR Shop, said that they “immediately declined” to provide decorations to the Republican National Committee (RNC) fundraiser and encouraged “others in the Nashville event industry to say no to taking money or jobs from the Republican Party until they begin to make the changes to gun laws that most Americans are calling for.”
In a statement responding to the request, the owners said that while they respect their conservative customers, they felt that the speakers at the RNC event, which includes former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, go “beyond our comfort level.”
Citing the recent shooting at the Christian Covenant School, the owners said they “cannot ignore the work the RNC has done to create this tragedy and so many others like it.”
28-Year-Old Transgender Attacker Used Legally Purchased Guns in Shooting at Christian School. (Screenshot, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department via Storyful)
In the Instagram post, one of the owners said that the Republican Party now best represents what former President George Washington warned about when he said that “political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and usurp for themselves the reins of government.”
“Either party holds the potential for what GW warned against but right now there is one party in particular that stands out,” the post said. “And since they’ve gerrymandered my district to the point of taking away my representation and those of so many others, these are the means by which I can make my voice heard. The budget for this job was large. Not something we would ordinarily turn down. But as the email says, there’s blood on that money and we can have no part in that.”
The post also said that they only stand up for human rights and have no desire to be considered political.
“When I speak up it’s always to advocate for human rights. I’ve been loud about protecting Black lives, the illness of racism in our country, and in defense of trans people. These things should not be considered political in my opinion,” it said.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on Tubi or rented at VIMEO On Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms as well as on Truth Social @paulboisbreitbart.
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