Comment

Gorgeous Time-Lapse Short Film: Magical New Zealand

254
Vicious Babushka2/21/2014 8:20:43 am PST

re: #238 lawhawk

One of the memes about businesses being able to discriminate against gays is that kosher butchers aren’t being forced to carry pork products. Seen that on twitter more than once and it bothers me to no end.

That’s disingenuous at best - and it’s a flawed analogy.

On the one hand, you have patrons to a kosher butcher under no expectation to carry non-kosher products. You’re going to a kosher butcher to get kosher products. Asking for a non-kosher product will get a raised eyebrow and suggestion to go elsewhere. It’s not discrimination against someone seeking a nonkosher product.

It’s an acknowledgement that stores can pick and choose the products they carry.

That differs from a store that sells baked goods and cakes, but then chooses not to sell them to a person based on - pick any: color of skin, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, etc. That’s discriminatory.

If you’re in a state like New Mexico, you don’t have the right to discriminate if you’re selling a product to others (that’s according to the state’s constitution/laws). Other states have caselaw to indicate that a business doesn’t have a right to discriminate in this fashion.

The gay couple going to a bakery to get a cake isn’t asking for something that the bakery doesn’t do. It’s a staple product. They bake cakes. They just don’t want to bake it for a gay couple. And that’s discriminatory.

This may be a bit of a stretch, but those wedding cake toppers with the little figure of a bride and groom on top don’t come in same-sex versions, so a bakery could legitimately say they can’t provide a topper for a gay wedding cake.