Remember Brian Klawiter, owner of the diesel repair shop DIESELTEC in Grandville, Michigan? The oh-so-media-savvy guy who announced on television that he’d happily refuse service to LGBT customers but give a discount to any straight person who walked in carrying a gun?
Well, he’s still around, and late last week, he tried to milk a few more minutes of fame — or infamy — from his short-lived celebrity before everyone forgets who he is.
This time, though, Klawiter didn’t just want to speak to a local reporter. No, he had some very grand ambitions, and judging from the video that’s emerged, they were entirely out of his depth.
If he’d stuck to something auto-related, something in his field of experience, he might’ve fared okay. But instead, he chose to mount a thought-provoking forum to discuss the persecution that Christians endure today*. In doing so, Klawiter rented out a 1,251-seat concert hall and cobbled together a panel of conservative “experts”, including virulently homophobic and not-so-subtle racist Dave Agema and Christian rocker/failed plaintiff Bradlee Dean.
Even so, things might’ve turned out well. If that bunch had simply locked themselves in a room to talk about the End Times, it would’ve been fine. Unfortunately, no one ever taught Klawiter & Co. how to properly stage an event, because things got out of hand very, very quickly.
You can see from the video above that much of the “forum” consisted of a shouting match between Klawiter’s guests and LGBT activists in the sparse audience. Suffice it to say that no one left the event saying, “Oh, that went well” or “I’m glad that we found some middle ground” or “No, I don’t have a headache at all.”
Granted, it doesn’t do our side any favors to see activists disrupting an event and stooping to the same level of rhetoric used by Klawiter and his guests. It’s understandable that people would want to stand up and defend themselves and their community, but it’s not a productive use of either side’s time. Personally, I think the peaceful protesters outside had the right idea. Added bonus: the lighting out there was far more flattering.
I’ll just be glad when everyone forgets who Klawiter is and he finally has to go back to his shop. I’m sure diesel owners in the area feel the same.
* Sadly, Klawiter and many of his peers fail to understand the difference between being persecuted on the basis of religion (e.g. members of ISIS beheading Christians who refuse to convert) and being persecuted on the basis of being bigots (e.g. the handful of bakeries that have refused to make cakes for same-sex weddings, even though they’ve often been legally required to do so).