[Sandy]

But you err in asserting that it is a natural right.

By natural right I meant a right that exists until forbidden by law. Imposing a negative burden upon another human being is already illegal, so that's not the sort of thing I'm talking about.

There is a vast body of legal precedent including the 1964 civil rights act and the fair housing acts which have made it clear that the right to discriminate in those two matters is extremely tenuous.

Well yeah, that's true, but the Constitution doesn't require those laws, and it wouldn't be unconstitutional to remove those laws from the books. We have those laws because people like them, not because the Constitution mandates them. Remove the laws, and the default situation returns, i.e., the right to discriminate. It's a right that existed until laws prohibiting it were passed. That was really my point. I hope that's more clear than my other reply.

[jec1ny]

'There is a vast body of legal precedent including the 1964 civil rights act and the fair housing acts which have made it clear that the right to discriminate in those two matters is extremely tenuous.'

"Well yeah, that's true, but the Constitution doesn't require those laws, and it wouldn't be unconstitutional to remove those laws from the books. We have those laws because people like them, not because the Constitution mandates them."

I must respectfully disagree. In doing so I refer you to the following...

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Laws which protect or promote a legal right to discriminate are incompatible with the prohibition of denying someone the "equal protection of the laws."

You claim ..."but the Constitution doesn't require those laws,..."
But it does prohibit any laws which violate the equal protection clause.