- Mar 5, 2004
- 17,332
- 6,425
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Lutheran
- Marital Status
- Single
- Politics
- US-Democrat
I have not posted anything justifying discrimination to anybody wishing to conduct ordinary commerce anywhere or wishing to attend any public venue or event so long as that person was not there to disrupt or break the law or behave unacceptably. I would strongly speak out if anybody proposed, much less practiced such discrimination whether it was against gay people, Italians, accordion players, or little green men from Mars, etc.
I am arguing for our right, as Christians, as Jews, as Atheists, as Muslims, as Buddhists, as gays, as people of color or just as people, as citizens, as living souls to choose not to personally PARTICIPATE IN AN EVENT that we cannot in good conscience condone. Participate means attending or having to be on the premises or having to produce a specially identifiable product or service for that event. It isn't a matter of attempting to interfere with the event in any way or deny anybody else the right to participate if they want to. It is simply a right to have a personal choice not to be part of it.
I don't know why that is so difficult to see as a completely different thing than discriminating against a person because of who or what he/she is?
Supplying a cake isn't "participating" in an event. The baker isn't attending the event. The baker doesn't have to be on the premises. Lots of people bake cakes--how is this baker's cake "specially identifiable"? This was addressed by Justice Sotomayor during the questioning. She was also worried that a ruling for the baker would not only violate the dignity of same-sex couples, but could also cause real hardships. Most military bases, she noted, are in isolated parts of the United States, many of which are predominantly Conservative Christian. That means, she said, that there might only be one or two bakers to provide cakes for same-sex weddings – and a couple could be out of luck if all the available bakers cite religious beliefs as a reason to refuse to make a cake.
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