Woman tries to buy birthday cake for her wife...

[Mr. Jew]

Businesses have no right to discriminate. Period.

It's not that simple I'm afraid.  I mean I hate bigotry and intolerance, but your kind of statement is a pretty blanket statement.  For starters, should a business be obliged to serve skinheads?  Personally I think not.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Businesses have no right to discriminate. Period.

It's not that simple I'm afraid.  I mean I hate bigotry and intolerance, but your kind of statement is a pretty blanket statement.  For starters, should a business be obliged to serve skinheads?  Personally I think not.

If they're not promoting/ostentating their views or being disruptive in any way and the only way you can tell they are skinheads is by their physical looks, then I don't see how you can refuse service.

[RINO Tom]

Yes, people shouldn't be denied service because of their sexual orientation.  I know this is just a birthday cake, but there are some towns that only really have one market for the whole town.  If that market was allowed to refuse service to gays, it could force them into becoming subsistence farmers or travel long distances just to buy food!  That would be crazy.

Basically this.

Using religion to justify discrimination is disgusting. If history and the current trajectory of this country are to be trusted, this bs will be banned eventually and these assholes will have nothing to fall back on.

Thankfully, many of the fiercest grass roots support for advancing civil rights came from deeply religious groups who used their heartfelt religious beliefs to spread love rather than hatred (groups like the Quakers were some of the first abolitionists, Black churches organizing civil rights marches in the South, etc.).

Agree completely with Siren's post.

[Likely Voter]

Of course sexual orientation should be one of the many protected classes in the US, and it is in many cities and states already.

But what I find strange about this baker is that they checked the Facebook page of this person before making the cake. They were essentially investigating their customer. Do they do that for everyone who wants a cake? That is creepy.

[7,052,770]

To be fair, this baker is probably poor and trying to become a conservative folk hero. Remember how those pizza restuarant owners in Indiana became millionaires?

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Option 1.

[Blue3]

Why did this weirdo baker decide to look up his customer's Facebook page to begin with?

[tallguy23]

The whole "it goes against my religious beliefs" argument is total bullsh**t. It's designed to make people defend their homophobic and bigoted beliefs under the guise of religious freedom.

I have no doubt that in 50 years (or less) we'll look back on these stories the way we look at "Whites Only" signs from the 1960s.

Last of all.....it's a ing cake you idiot. Nobody is asking you to blow them.

[Badger]

Is this the only place to buy a cake?  And they don't like gay people?  Seems like a perfect business opportunity for someone that isn't a bigot.

In many towns, DeadO, there is only one bakery (or at least only one outside Wal-Mart).

Besides "just search around until you find someone who'll take your kind" isn't the appropriate response here, morally, ethically, or politically. Ever.

[dead0man]

This isn't like Jim Crow.  Nothing at all like Jim Crow.

What percentage of Americans do you think live in towns so small there is only one place to buy a cake?  And I'd guess its an even smaller percentage of gay Americans.  Maybe 2.5%?  Yes, in those places you should be able to compel (with the force of the law) the local bigot cake maker to make you a cake (though why you would want to give somebody that hates you money is another issue, but whatever, the point is more important than not helping the bigot out I guess).  I don't understand why the other 98% of us don't just avoid bigoted bakers, maybe start a PR campaign/protest against them, advertise for the non bigoted bakers.  Certainly not go out of our way to find the bigots to give them our money.  Or give them free PR to other bigots by suing them.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

This isn't like Jim Crow.  Nothing at all like Jim Crow.

What percentage of Americans do you think live in towns so small there is only one place to buy a cake?  And I'd guess its an even smaller percentage of gay Americans.  Maybe 2.5%?  Yes, in those places you should be able to compel (with the force of the law) the local bigot cake maker to make you a cake (though why you would want to give somebody that hates you money is another issue, but whatever, the point is more important than not helping the bigot out I guess).  I don't understand why the other 98% of us don't just avoid bigoted bakers, maybe start a PR campaign/protest against them, advertise for the non bigoted bakers.  Certainly not go out of our way to find the bigots to give them our money.  Or give them free PR to other bigots by suing them.

The other 98% of us don't all just avoid bigoted bakers because a significant number of us consider their bigotry acceptable.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Why did this weirdo baker decide to look up his customer's Facebook page to begin with?

Yeah, that is weird as hell. I hope the backlash puts his business out of commission.

Anywho, I have a pretty clear-cut position on this. If you don't believe in gay marriage and don't want to "aide and abed" a gay marriage ceremony, like a wedding, you have the right to refuse service. However, a birthday cake is not religious in nature. The private life of the two women involved is none of his business (it would be if he had to bake a cake involving their private life, ie, a wedding) so he lacks the right to freedom of association in this case.

If he can deny service to these two women, why not deny service to a pregnant teenager? Or a recovering alcoholic? The public means the public. A gay wedding is not the public, but a gay couple entering the bakery for a simple birthday cake is.

[dead0man]

This isn't like Jim Crow.  Nothing at all like Jim Crow.

What percentage of Americans do you think live in towns so small there is only one place to buy a cake?  And I'd guess its an even smaller percentage of gay Americans.  Maybe 2.5%?  Yes, in those places you should be able to compel (with the force of the law) the local bigot cake maker to make you a cake (though why you would want to give somebody that hates you money is another issue, but whatever, the point is more important than not helping the bigot out I guess).  I don't understand why the other 98% of us don't just avoid bigoted bakers, maybe start a PR campaign/protest against them, advertise for the non bigoted bakers.  Certainly not go out of our way to find the bigots to give them our money.  Or give them free PR to other bigots by suing them.

The other 98% of us don't all just avoid bigoted bakers because a significant number of us consider their bigotry acceptable.

I would assume most of us (bigots or not) avoid bigoted bakers by accident because there are so few of them.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Businesses have no right to discriminate. Period.

It's not that simple I'm afraid.  I mean I hate bigotry and intolerance, but your kind of statement is a pretty blanket statement.  For starters, should a business be obliged to serve skinheads?  Personally I think not.

If they're not promoting/ostentating their views or being disruptive in any way and the only way you can tell they are skinheads is by their physical looks, then I don't see how you can refuse service.

What if they have a swastika tattooed on their forehead?

[Cassius]

Why did this weirdo baker decide to look up his customer's Facebook page to begin with?

Yeah, that is weird as hell. I hope the backlash puts his business out of commission.

Anywho, I have a pretty clear-cut position on this. If you don't believe in gay marriage and don't want to "aide and abed" a gay marriage ceremony, like a wedding, you have the right to refuse service. However, a birthday cake is not religious in nature. The private life of the two women involved is none of his business (it would be if he had to bake a cake involving their private life, ie, a wedding) so he lacks the right to freedom of association in this case.

If he can deny service to these two women, why not deny service to a pregnant teenager? Or a recovering alcoholic? The public means the public. A gay wedding is not the public, but a gay couple entering the bakery for a simple birthday cake is.

Both are private events (a birthday celebration is hardly a public affair after all), so if a baker if to be compelled to provide a cake for a birthday (and in this case, the birthday of a gay woman's spouse, which is surely an affirmation of their love and their relationship), then it isn't really much of a stretch to compel the baker to bake a wedding cake. Given that Christian opposition to same-sex marriage stems, at least in part, from the view that homosexuality is basically a sin, and that homosexuality is a false form of love and cannot provide the foundation for any kind of family life, then surely a woman buying a cake for her spouse (as I said before, an affirmation of said 'false' love and family life) falls into the exact same category as buying one on behalf of herself and her spouse to be.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I still think the best answer is no.  Wouldn't you want to know the person making your cake was prejudiced against you?  Why force them into making something and have them possibly sabotage that item because they don't like you? Shouldn't others know about their prejudice and get called out on it? 
Wouldn't you want to give your money to someone who appreciates your business?

TBH, I think this a good argument for repealing anti-discrimination laws in general, which I would support. But as long as we have them, they need to applied consistently and fairly.

Of course, this kind of discrimination can be devastating in say, the job market, and, as some have already said on this thread, in small towns where you only have one store to get various necessities.

There is no logical argument in today's society why this shouldn't be amended to include sexual orientation and gender identity

Sure there is. Gender identity isn't a thing, and sex is already protected.

You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you...

[nclib]

Option 2, for sure.

Anywho, I have a pretty clear-cut position on this. If you don't believe in gay marriage and don't want to "aide and abed" a gay marriage ceremony, like a wedding, you have the right to refuse service.

I don't think that's really accurate. If that baker doesn't bake that cake, the couple would/could go somewhere else. If (unrealistically) they can't get the cake baked anywhere, they would still get married.

[Badger]

This isn't like Jim Crow.  Nothing at all like Jim Crow.

What percentage of Americans do you think live in towns so small there is only one place to buy a cake?  And I'd guess its an even smaller percentage of gay Americans.  Maybe 2.5%?  Yes, in those places you should be able to compel (with the force of the law) the local bigot cake maker to make you a cake (though why you would want to give somebody that hates you money is another issue, but whatever, the point is more important than not helping the bigot out I guess).  I don't understand why the other 98% of us don't just avoid bigoted bakers, maybe start a PR campaign/protest against them, advertise for the non bigoted bakers.  Certainly not go out of our way to find the bigots to give them our money.  Or give them free PR to other bigots by suing them.

Read again, DeadO. If someone is looking for a nice cake better than a sheet cake from the Wal-Mart or grocery generic bakery without leaving town or taking a lengthy urban commute to another neighborhood, quite a damn few.

This argument was settled long ago. The Commerce Clause exists for a reason. Most people rightly don't give a damn for libertard fantasies of "moral approbation" substituting for a completely legitimate, reserved (to the sane), and justifiable regulation of commerce.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

If the baker already agreed to do it, and then changed her mind because she found out the person was gay, that would fall under breach of contract wouldn't it?

I don't think there's much if any of a religious liberty case for this like there is for a same sex wedding.  But I still can't relate to the concept that someone would be in desperate need of a birthday cake from a store to the extent that you could force someone to bake it for you, absent some agreement they had made to do it.  It's a stretch to consider this type of service a public accomodation, which originally applied to things like hotels and meals that someone would need either for survival or for travel.

[Joe Republic]

To be fair, this baker is probably poor and trying to become a conservative folk hero. Remember how those pizza restuarant owners in Indiana became millionaires?

Bingo.

[Adam Griffin]

To be fair, this baker is probably poor and trying to become a conservative folk hero. Remember how those pizza restuarant owners in Indiana became millionaires?

Bingo.

This would (hopefully!) explain why the weirdo was apparently scouring Facebook pages of customers: she was just waiting to get her hands on a winning lottery ticket!

[Brittain33]

Is this the only place to buy a cake?  And they don't like gay people?  Seems like a perfect business opportunity for someone that isn't a bigot.

If there are only a few gay people in town, it doesn't sound like a "perfect business opportunity" unless you want to charge extortionate prices of gay customers banned from the other bakery. This baker can successfully discriminate without suffering much in the way of consequences.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Is this the only place to buy a cake?  And they don't like gay people?  Seems like a perfect business opportunity for someone that isn't a bigot.

If there are only a few gay people in town, it doesn't sound like a "perfect business opportunity" unless you want to charge extortionate prices of gay customers banned from the other bakery. This baker can successfully discriminate without suffering much in the way of consequences.

Why do you assume that only gay people would want to avoid giving their business to an anti-gay bigot?

[dead0man]

This isn't like Jim Crow.  Nothing at all like Jim Crow.

What percentage of Americans do you think live in towns so small there is only one place to buy a cake?  And I'd guess its an even smaller percentage of gay Americans.  Maybe 2.5%?  Yes, in those places you should be able to compel (with the force of the law) the local bigot cake maker to make you a cake (though why you would want to give somebody that hates you money is another issue, but whatever, the point is more important than not helping the bigot out I guess).  I don't understand why the other 98% of us don't just avoid bigoted bakers, maybe start a PR campaign/protest against them, advertise for the non bigoted bakers.  Certainly not go out of our way to find the bigots to give them our money.  Or give them free PR to other bigots by suing them.

Read again, DeadO. If someone is looking for a nice cake better than a sheet cake from the Wal-Mart or grocery generic bakery without leaving town or taking a lengthy urban commute to another neighborhood, quite a damn few.

Look man, I get it.  I suppose gay people should have a constitutional right to convenient fancy deserts just like straight people enjoy.   I still have my issues with the whole thing, but those issues, like the issue itself, are minor.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Is this the only place to buy a cake?  And they don't like gay people?  Seems like a perfect business opportunity for someone that isn't a bigot.

If there are only a few gay people in town, it doesn't sound like a "perfect business opportunity" unless you want to charge extortionate prices of gay customers banned from the other bakery. This baker can successfully discriminate without suffering much in the way of consequences.

Except for retaliation by activists.
Their yelp page is now a bunch of unbelievably awful supposed reviews by people who live hundreds of miles away.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/take-the-cake-bakery-and-cake-design-shop-toledo