I find the argument that "the market will take care of it" -- namely that a business that discriminates against gays will fail-- to be woefully short sighted. In some communities, yes, that will happen.
In most communities in the South, that business will prosper. Christians will rally around the business. Which is all fine and good, but as a civilized society marching towards progress, we cannot allow the majority to decide on the rights of the minority. It doesn't work, especially when allowing the minority equal rights reins in the majority's privilege.
If we allowed the market to prevail, it would have been 20 years further on until blacks would have been allowed in some establishments. There would still be private golf clubs that African Americans couldn't apply to become members. There would still be lunch counters in the South that wouldn't allow ethnic people to eat. The money of anyone wearing a turban in parts of this country right now would be no good. People can come up with a "compelling religious reason" why doing business with a Muslim is against their faith.
If you open your business to the public, you do not get to choose who you serve. You can refuse to bid on contracts, you can refuse to perform certain services for all of your patrons.
If you sell cakes, you cannot choose not to sell a cake to a gay person because they're gay. I have been to a lot of weddings. Only once was the person who baked the cake intimately involved with the ceremony, and that was because she was a close friend of the bride.
In most communities in the South, that business will prosper. Christians will rally around the business. Which is all fine and good, but as a civilized society marching towards progress, we cannot allow the majority to decide on the rights of the minority. It doesn't work, especially when allowing the minority equal rights reins in the majority's privilege.
If we allowed the market to prevail, it would have been 20 years further on until blacks would have been allowed in some establishments. There would still be private golf clubs that African Americans couldn't apply to become members. There would still be lunch counters in the South that wouldn't allow ethnic people to eat. The money of anyone wearing a turban in parts of this country right now would be no good. People can come up with a "compelling religious reason" why doing business with a Muslim is against their faith.
If you open your business to the public, you do not get to choose who you serve. You can refuse to bid on contracts, you can refuse to perform certain services for all of your patrons.
If you sell cakes, you cannot choose not to sell a cake to a gay person because they're gay. I have been to a lot of weddings. Only once was the person who baked the cake intimately involved with the ceremony, and that was because she was a close friend of the bride.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
