Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Round 2

[Catholic_Lady]

That's the difference.

You're not supporting "Hitler".

How is that relational to a baker refusing a cake for a gay couple?

Are you stating with what you have posted that the both are comparable?

The law cannot differentiate between Hitler or anything else. A law can tell you that you can't refuse service to someone based on sexual orientation (as well it should).

But, upon reflection, I'm beginning to see CL/RR's point here. How can you differentiate reasonable moral concerns from bigotry concerning a custom-made image?

On the surface, the baker is obviously motivated by prejudice, but how can a law address this without crossing a line?

Exactly. That's why I keep saying, what exactly is the law here? Is a Baker allowed to refuse services to an event/cause that he is morally opposed to? The answer is either yes or no. It makes no sense to say "well, you are allowed to refuse for this event, but not for this other event..."

Another much less extreme example is a cake that says "Pro Choice" on it for a pro choice fundraiser. I would absolutely refuse. Because it is a cause I am morally opposed to and I want no part in it. I either have the legal right to refuse, or I don't. Just like with the white supremacist example.

Likewise, if you are an atheist and you are strongly morally opposed to the "indoctrination of children" or whatever you wanna call it, you should be legally allowed to refuse to bake a cake for an infant baptism or a 2nd grade first communion.

It doesnt matter what the cause is, as far as the law is concerned. If you are morally opposed, you either should or should not have the right to refuse taking part in it by creating and providing a cake for it.

---

The case is a tricky one for sure. Ideally people shouldn’t be forced to do things they find immoral, however at the same time if someone provides a service, society has an expectation that the service should apply to everyone equally.

Baking a wedding cake for a hetero marriage is the same as baking a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, at least according to the law and basic baking knowledge. If the baker offers the cake to one person but not another because of some moral opposition, it seems to me that this should be discrimination.

One could argue that the gay couple go somewhere else, which is a solution if they have another place to go to, but one could imagine a small isolated town with only one baker, what do they do then? Go without cake because the baker is a bigot?

I find some nice parallels with the justice system. The constitution gives defendants the right to a lawyer, even if they cannot pay. What would happen if public defenders could refuse to defend a person on moral grounds?

C_L, do you think businesses should be able to refuse to bake, say, a Kwanza cake if they have moral objections to the celebration of religions other than Christianity?

Yes. And vice versa if the Baker is Muslim or whatever and refuses to make a cake for a Christmas celebration.