Zombie_Pundit
Member
- May 12, 2014
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Not serving someone because he is gay is one thing, however forcing me to participate in a event that goes against my faith is another. I would gladly serve a gay customer, however when they ask me to bake a gay wedding cake, or even attend a gay wedding ceremony to serve the cake, it goes against my beliefs and I should not be forced by law to renounce my faith. I would go to jail first.Why should accommodation laws take precedence over religious freedoms? It was always the other way around. The First Amendment to the constitution is still valid.
So can business claim religious beliefs and discriminate against whomever they want?
Are there other laws of general applicability that one should just be able to claim a religious belief and then be exempt from the law?
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I'm not sure how you are classifying any fancy cake as gay or not gay. No one has provided a definition of "gay cake". If you are going to refuse to bake "gay cake" you will need to provide some definition. You may not be required to bake "gay cake" if "gay cake" has some meaning pertaining to the actual shape or content of the cake.
Example: If you choose to label carrot cake as "gay cake", well, you actually have no legal requirement to make a carrot cake and you are free to call carrot cake "gay". That is to say if someone came into your store and said "I'd like a carrot cake" you could reply "we don't make carrot cakes here". However, if you instead replied "We don't make no damn dirty gay cakes!" because you hold "carrot" and "gay" to be synonymous then you might have to explain yourself before some authority. I doubt that authority would know you thought of carrot cake as "gay" and the authority may not accept your explanation and instead cite animus on your part.
No one can force you to put some objectionable ingredient you don't carry into a cake. But generally you can't refuse service to a person who will enjoy a cake you have baked because you dislike "their kind".
Example: If you ran a gluten-free bakery, no one could force you to use gluten. But you can't refuse service because a gay person might enjoy eating one of your gluten-free cakes.
If it is your intention to label the cake "gay" because ostensibly gay people are going to eat that cake then you are in violation of public accommodation laws regardless of how you choose to label the cake. This is because the cake has not actually changed state. The thing to which you object is that gay people might enjoy it. Do you understand that difference?
Lastly, being a baker does not imply being a caterer. There are plenty of bakers who bake cakes and don't slice up the cake at an event afterward. If in addition to baked goods you offer catering services and those catering services are listed in your state as public accommodation, then you may be in violation of public accommodation when you chase a same-sex couple out of your store.