“Wouldn’t this law have made it legal to refuse service to someone based solely on the grounds that it was against their religious beliefs? What if I interpret my faith to mean that all of (insert race, creed, gender, etc.) are not worthy of being served by me? How loosely can it be interpreted?”
This is an anti-libertarian and anti – conservative view. It is better to have A business' discriminations out in the open so that the public can decide whether or not they would patronize such a place, citizens are perfectly capable in making such a decision – and businesses that overtly discriminate will go out of business very quickly. I personally would not patronize a homosexuals business if I knew he hated Christians, and not too many here at Free Republic would patronize such a place either – but we would all believe that the homosexual has a right to run its business the way it wants to!
“Isn’t that basically the same as Jim Crow laws?”
Here is a complete misunderstanding of the Jim Crow laws – these laws were from government and not businesses – they were government discrimination laws and not laws against discrimination. These laws FORCED businesses to discriminate!
I see your point. I also feel that, like with any philosophy, the ideal doesn’t quite work in reality. I see what you’re saying about Jim Crow laws being an imposition and overreach of the law. Very succinctly put.
That said, anti discrimination laws serve a purpose. These laws exist to protect those with less power, since this isn’t a utopia where the free market can solve everything. You can’t discriminate in housing based on race, for example. This is important because if one demographic is economically disempowered (as Blacks were at the time of the law), then they were in a position of being marginalized and kept from true equal opportunity. You’re also assuming that every business would discriminate out in the open. The free market as a regulating force only works when there is true transparency. Pure LIbertarianism, Pure Socialism, pure anything, only works in a utopian world where everyone acts fairly. To address human failings, laws and rules exist. Minimally, in my ideal world. But until such time as humans move beyond their prejudices, my feeling is that anti discrimination laws serve a purpose.