> Why can’t any business refuse any customer for any reason? <
I’m a hard-core conservative, as my many previous posts will attest. But I’m really torn on this one. For this country to survive, the motto “E Pluribus Unum” must have real meaning. Should a business - open to the public - be allowed to put a “No gays served” sign out front? How about “No blacks served”?
I think not. Because such signs would divide us, not unite us.
On the other hand, should a person be forced to go against his religious beliefs? Should an observant Jew, for example, be forced to work on the Sabbath?
This is all too tough a call for me. if I were on the Supreme Court, I’d skip this case and go fishing instead.
Yeah, “E Pluribus Unum” and the government will hammer you with “Unum” until you submit.
He wasn't refusing to serve anyone– he admits he would sell them donuts or anything in his business.
He was refusing to promote ideas he disagreed with.
Should he have to make a Nazi cake flag, if someone requests it? How about depicting bestiality, child porn, or nudity?
I say no...
I also wonder about the Muslims working at Target andWalmart who [reportedly] would have to call in another checker to check out items like bacon and pork products.
This means that Muslims religious beliefs would prevail.
It also should be noted:
Three times the state has declined to force pro-gay bakers to provide a Christian patron with a cake they could not in conscience create given their own convictions on sexuality and marriage. Colorado was right to recognize their First Amendment right against compelled speech. It’s wrong to deny Jack Phillips that same right.
- A Baker’s First Amendment Rights
I think you miss an important point.
The case is not about not serving gays. Gays are served at this bakery.
The case is about a special order cake for a same sex wedding.
Gays are free to go in there and buy anything off the shelf of the bakery. It’s a special order for a homosexual event which the baker didn’t perform.
Civil rights and public accommodation laws are not at issue here, because he does not discriminate against homosexual or any other group of potential customers.
This bakery also does not do Halloween themed goodies. There are many categories of pastries and cakes special orders which he doesn’t do.
This is not a public accommodation issue... would you require an LGBT artist to create a mural on behalf of a church depicting the horrors of AIDS with an inscription indicating that such horror is God’s punishment?
A custom cake is ordered well in advance of any wedding... it isn’t a matter of not having any place to eat or any place to stay.
It has nothing to do with "no gays served". That baker specifically said he was willing to sell any cake on the shelf to those customers or to make a custom cake for any occasion (birthday, etc.) that did not require him to endorse a position in violation of his religious beliefs.
This is purely freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association, and all three are on the baker's side. He is not denying service, just denying their demand that he engage in creative expression that he finds abhorrent. Note: I would have been willing to bake the cake, but my personal choice is irrelevant to what a free person can morally be compelled to do.
The homosexual agenda,by it’s very nature, divides Americans. By enlisting the state to attack first amendment liberties, they show themselves to be America’s enemies.