I will ask again - what exactly are you referring to?
We can start with denying certain medical procedures, if you need to be specific.
You understand but you do not agree - right?
If it were up to you - that woman would have had to write out the homophobic messages?
The point is it
isn't up to me. If she wants to decline that particular customer's business, that's her decision to make. Whether or not I agree with it is immaterial.
I don't believe the woman was particularly religious - the opposite in fact.
Do you believe that you can force an artist to paint any portrait you want them to?
Nope. I'm just saying that I don't think a portrait artist refusing to paint portraits is a particularly good business model. But to each their own.
As you keep saying. I understand that you disagree with this SCOTUS decision.
This is a good place for me to point out that I also disagree with certain decisions that have been made.
So - you don't need to keep repeating that you disagree and also don't need to keep reiterating that the SCOTUS or some other authority disagrees with what I claim.
I'm merely making the point that whether or not I agree with someone's decision has no bearing on their legal right to make it.
That does not really mean anything to me.
You disagree with SCOTUS - yet still share your opinion - just like I may disagree with other decisions - yet still share mine.
Cool. That's what discussion forums are there for.
I asked for your opinion.
And I'm not a lawyer, so I can't answer the question. I don't know the law in whatever jurisdiction you're in.
Why should that matter? A man can never be a woman or a woman a man. The reason or basis would not matter.
Biology is one thing, gender is another. They're not the same thing.
And no state has the authority to define either of them for any individual.
A decision I disagree with. They do not qualify for that privilege.
They do, and it's not a privilege, it's a right. Your disagreement notwithstanding.
Then don't call it a marriage. Don't refer to them as "husband" or "wife". These are not secular institutions or terms.
Yeah, they are. Churches don't issue marriage licenses, the state does that. And no marriage can be legal without one.
Religions don't have the exclusive right to define any of those terms. People can, and have, gotten married without any church involvement whatsoever.
Many people believe it. And it remains true, even if people believe the morality they've subjectively ascribed to comes from somewhere or someone else.
Another decision I disagree with. It is a very illogical and bizarre thing to claim that marriage is a right.
And yet, it is. Even if you don't understand it.
Yes - and just like how you have been claiming how you disagree with SCOTUS over and over - I am claiming to disagree with them here.
Fine. But that doesn't change the fact that you need a state issued marriage license to get married. You don't need a church.
Unlike you - I reference God and His Word (as well as all human history) as my basis for disagreeing - instead of my opinion only.
You're free to base your opinion on whatever you like.
So, it means nothing. Like how the term "woman" has become meaningless since everyone just applies their own definition.
Lots of things have subjective meanings, which will differ from one individual to another. For example, some may define marriage as a requirement to have children, but some don't. Some get married, even without any intention to have kids. Heck, there are some people who don't even view sexual fidelity as a requirement for marriage.
To each their own.
The State literally changed the definition to include same-sex couples. They certainly act like they decide what marriage means to everyone.
Actually, several states tried to change the definition by excluding same-sex couples. That was eventually ruled unconstitutional. Prior to the 1970s, there was never a specific law in any US state prohibiting two men or two women from marrying...it was a
de facto rule, not
de jure.
You misunderstand - I did not say that they can "call" a banana whatever they want - but that the banana is whatever they want.
Is this a banana?
It isn't.
(Hint: ever hear of "The Treachery of Images," a 1929 painting by Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte?)
I would hope that you would say something if you witnessed someone trying to peel and eat their automobile.
I might suggest they get treated for pica.
That should not be the case.
Why not? The law defines things for legal purposes, but that doesn't mean you have to agree with that definition or abide by it if you don't wish to. Isn't that the point to either one of us disagreeing with certain SCOTUS decisions?
If you want to define your own marriage as a religious sacrament, that's your business...and it isn't mine to say otherwise. But regardless, you still have to get a state-issued marriage license whether you're married in a church, by a justice of the peace, by a judge, or even by a ship captain.
A marriage is a covenant between a man, a woman and God.
Mine isn't. My wife and I only made vows to each other. There is no third party in our marriage.
God gave marriage to Man and already instructed us on what it is for.
You're free to believe this, if you wish. Just as other people are free to not believe it.
I fundamentally disagree.
That's your right.
When the customer has other bakeries available that would accommodate them - where is the imposition?
If I were to go to an LGBT-owned bakery and demand a homophobic cake - like that one case - they would need to bake it and decorate it exactly as I requested?
If not - they are "imposing their views" on me?
That is not up for you or me or SCOTUS or anyone else to decide.
But it's their view and their business.
Yup.
And you disagree. You would want to force them. how far does that go?
I never once said I'd force them to do anything. I specified they had the legal right to conduct their business however they wish to.
You wondered why I kept bringing up the SCOTUS ruling. That's why.
Not if it is proven true. Which it has been.
Nope. Same sex marriage being legal has no bearing on any other marriage whatsoever.
Not really. We know what happened and why.
Well, there are quite a few opinions as to the why.
You are trying to make it about the customers again and not the event they were requesting a cake for - which was the actual thing they didn't want to be associated with.
And the SCOTUS ruled they have that right. Whether or not I agree with their decision.
Again, I ask - would they have made the wedding cake for the "same-sex wedding" if the customer had been a heterosexual?
You'd have to ask them. I can't speak for them.
I'm not sure if there are many heterosexual couples that will have same-sex weddings, however, let alone require a cake for it. Though, I do recall an Adam Sandler movie about that subject, but I never saw it. I have no idea if they had a cake made for that movie.
Or what if the cake were for an actual wedding - but the person requesting it had been a homosexual - you think they would have refused?
Please answer these questions and stop trying to make this a case of discrimination.
My only answer is that they're free, per SCOTUS, to refuse to bake cakes for those customers, regardless of whether or not I view their actions as discriminatory. I'm willing to bet they don't care a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys what I think.
An establishment could refuse people if they were using the counter for something other than lunch. And what if they were doing something considered inappropriate with that water fountain?
Different circumstances, different rules.
It is funny how you keep trying to make it a case of discrimination.
I calls 'em as I sees 'em. You're free to disagree, as are they.
Again - it was about the event - not the individuals.
Your boss could have refused to print those fliers if they said something derogatory about Jewish people.
Yeah, he could have. He didn't.
By the way, as I recall, it did.
So, SCOTUS claimed that they didn't have a right to do it.
Yup. That's what they're there for, to render decisions on the law according to the Constitution.
If you are not going to use those things for their intended purpose....
I seem to recall people being refused service based on who they were, not what they were going to do.
No, we also know why this is.
Well, again, there are quite a few opinions as to the why.
Did he have to ask you for your support in order to have it?
Even if he decided to refuse to make the fliers?
I already said he didn't need it.
The First Amendment disagrees.
No, it doesn't. There is no provision in the First Amendment protecting you from all possible consequences of using your freedom of speech. It only limits which laws congress can make.
You mean threats of prison and financial ruin, right?
Those could be possible consequences, sure. But, let's not forget, a threat
alone is just an expression of free speech. Unless that threat comes with a reasonable expectation of imminent or physical danger, there's no crime in simply threatening someone.
-- A2SG, there's a difference between a threat and a credible threat, after all.....