cacman wrote:As far as I'm concerned, it is a private business owners' right to refuse service to anyone for what ever reason they seem fit and without explanation. That's why it's called a 'private business'. No one should be forced to do business with another. A bakery owned by a Christian family that does not condone gay unions should not be forced to do business beyond their beliefs. Nor should they be ridiculed, personally threatened, vandalized, and forced out of their business for what they believe. That's their right regardless of 'market'. What ever happened to the separation of church and State (guberment)??
In the same note, a religious institution should not be forced to perform services for a union they do not support. If a gay couple chooses to engage in a civil union, they should choose a church, bakery, florist, and doughnut maker that also supports their belief as opposed to forcing someone else to contort and forgo their own beliefs. It's like asking a Buddhist monk to perform a Christian ceremony. It doesn't fit.
and I don't disagree with a single thing you said. But a business refusing service to a group is NOT free of legal consequences of their actions. I, IN NO WAY, support illegal activities such as harassment, threats,vandalism, etc., but I ABSOLUTELY support the market deciding whether that bakery continues to survive based on that owner's publicly stated beliefs. That is a TRUE FREE MARKET.
Would you shop at a store run by the Westboro idiots? I seriously doubt it. I wouldn't and I would discourage others from doing so either. Not by threats or vandalism but by speaking out and publicly boycotting them. There may be some that would and that is their right.
Once again....we ABSOLUTELY have the right to free speech and the right to believe whatever we wish in this country. We DO NOT have the right to be of any consequences of that speech or those beliefs. I use the Westboro sh itheels as an extreme example and I despise them as do most BUT, in a weird way, I 100% support their right to do what they do and spew what they spew. They are almost like the canary in the coal mine. If we shut them down using the legal system, then we are on a slippery slope.