I love that libs are not content with just granting gay rights but actually want to force it down people's throats by forcing people who are disgusted by it to bake gay-themed cakes. What is this, indentured servitude to the enlightened government bureaucrats? What happened to the freedom to choose what you will and won't do. |
Gay themed cakes?! What's that - a rainbow? Pretty offensive. LOL. |
Why are homophobes obsessed with things being forced down their throats? That seems a little Freudian. |
Money doesn't always = smart. I have plenty of millionaires in my family who worked hard to earn their salaries. However, that doesn't mean they're necessarily the brightest. Furthermore, being book smart is not the same as being life smart. I don't understand why we use elitist "values" to determine who's smart. Perhaps my definition of smart differs dramatically from yours???? |
If you're a baker who doesn't want to serve the public then don't open a storefront to serve the public. |
No, but it often does. You seldom find really well off people who are authentically stupid. Honestly, I think it's the "book smart" folks who are shielded from reality who are the most taken aback by Trump. |
Winners |
I think there's a difference between saying "I'm not going to sell ANY cakes to people I don't like" and "I'm not going to put messages on cakes that I disagree with." What if a neonazi couple was getting married and asked that the baker put a swastika on the cake? |
That's a bad analogy. Gays don't hurt anyone. Neo-Nazis do. |
But don't you see a problem with say "certain types of speech is good and you have to agree to put those types of speech on your cakes, but not other types of speech which I think is bad" |
What "message" are you referring to? Can you tell me whether this is a "gay" wedding cake or not? ![]() |
Let's start with the fact that marriage is a constitutional right that cannot be denied if a couple are of mixed races or the same sexes. In my experience, wedding cakes (including a groon's cake) aren't inscribed with messages or symbols, whether political or otherwise so your hypothetical seems to be out of pretty far out of the norm. That said, it comes down to whether "neo-Nazis" are a protected class under state or local anti-discrimination laws. |
I'm not sure you quite understand how the equal protections clause works. It applies only to government laws/actors. Private discrimination (like "whites only" signs in the old south) has been banned by federal laws passed under the commerce clause... equal protections is unnecessary to achieve that aim and doesn't apply to private businesses. The only constitutional provisions at issue are the ones that might restrain the use of the commerce clause or the passage of any state laws requiring bakers and other business owners to provide services. The first amendment's grants of free speech and free exercise of religion certainly constrain how businesses may be regulated (in an extreme scenario imagine that all business owners were required by law to hang crucifixes in their stores, or were prohibited from doing so). I don't think anyone has a problem requiring bakers to serve all customers regardless of their sexual orientation (gays should be able to buy the same cakes available to straight couples). The question is can they also be required to write pro-gay slogans on the cakes (in the video posted above the customer asked the muslim baker to write "yay for gay marriage!" on the cake). So you must see that at some point it's unreasonable to require store owners to go along with any imaginable request. Maybe you think "yay for gay marriage!" is reasonable but a swastika is not and maybe others would think "yay for gay marriage!" is unreasonable. The point is that when you are using the law to compel private actors to provide services, you need to tread lightly. |
"I'm sort of offended by the signs." Good. Oh, would you please come by at 0300 to vandalize our property? Your first stop will be an emergency department with a rump full of birdshot. Then jail. But that'd just waste a good birdshot shell. I'd make you eat worms and send you home minus your pants. |
If you are anything more than a blowhard, you will post your address so that someone can accept your challenge. |