General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIt's pretty easy to discriminate without getting sued
In the real world of day-to-day life there is no way to force Joe the Fundamentalist Baker to make me a same-sex marriage cake. (Assuming I'd even want him to... a good rule of thumb in life is to avoid getting food from people who hate you)
If Joe doesn't want to make my cake he can say any of these things:
We are out of cake.
My dog died and I am too sad to make your cake.
I dropped your cake and don't have any more cake.
My cell phone signal is breaking up...
I forgot.
I hate money.
I got drunk. Sorry. Here's your deposit back.
I simply don't feel like making cake today.
Any of those approaches will result in any would-be cake buyer saying, "geez... this bakery sucks," and getting cake elsewhere, without ever considering a law suit.
So what would a law like the Arizona law give Joe the Fundamentalist Baker, in practice?
The legal backing to make a speech to your face about how you don't get any cake because you are an abomination in the eyes of the lord ...without getting sued.
And that is what they want. The right to proclaim their hatred free of consequences.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Religious opponents to equality definitely feel entitled to spew their venom. Here on DU they get bent out of shape if we even criticize the hate speech of their favorite preachers. Their clerics call us horrible names, object to justice for us, pass pogrom laws against us but if we criticize that they call us 'haters'. The arrogance is beyond imagination, they are so fully sure they are God's voice.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)It just doesn't feel good to them unless they can rub your nose in it.
bigmonkey
(1,798 posts)I was thinking about this, and it occurred to me that the fundy could even tell the truth, like this:
"I'm just uncomfortable with this, because of my beliefs. I don't think I can do a very good job of this, my heart's just not in it."
Under what circumstances wouldn't the customers decide to take their business elsewhere in that case? You could imagine some sort of "emergency", but that would be pretty rare.
I think what you're pointing to is correct, that the opportunity to act defiant is the only thing missing.
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)I agree with the OP's take, though.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." As far as I know that's perfectly legal, although it's usually only invoked to kick out people acting like assholes.
I agree that these laws pretty much do nothing except invite boycotts and lawsuits.