TirithRR wrote:
Because you aren't doing business with the wedding, you are doing business with the person or group. What they will use the item you sell for is in the end pointless.
If I go to a store and buy rock climbing equipment, it doesn't matter if I'm going to use it to go *** rock climbing, or straight rock climbing. They sell rock climbing equipment, and I buy it.
Sure. But if you want to purchase custom rock climbing equipment with a swastika on it, you have every right to refuse to do that. Right?
Quote:
If I go to a store and buy a wedding cake, it doesn't matter if I'm going to use it at a *** wedding, or a straight wedding. They sell wedding cakes, and I am buying one.
Doesn't really matter what they are selling, they are selling it. And they are denying to sell it to a person because they are ***. Playing loose with the definition of "Custom" doesn't really change that.
I'm not playing loose with the word. If you buy a stock cake out of the display case, you're free to use it for any purpose you want (and decorate it any way you want). But any cake that is made specifically for that one wedding is, by definition, "custom made".
The larger point is that, at least of all the cases I've spent any time looking into, these were businesses that were being asked to provide services directly for the wedding. When you go into a bakery that specializes in wedding cakes, they make the exact cake you want, with the flavors you want, and the decorations you want, and sometime includes delivering the cake to the reception, and sometimes even setting it up for service (ie: eating). That is a far cry from refusing to sell a donut in a case to a random person who walks in and happens to be gay, and categorizing it that way in order to enhance the "wrongness" of what was done is deceptive and unfair (and is also terribly unproductive).
In the case of the pizza joint, they were actually asked if they would cater a gay wedding reception. And in the case of a florist that I saw interviewed on this subject, they were also being asked to set up the flower arrangements for the wedding and to do decorations for the reception. Again, that's a far cry from refusing to sell a product on your shelf to a customer who walks in wanting to buy it. The difference is the degree of participation in the event itself. There's a point where what you are selling isn't just a product on a shelf, but a service specific to an event. And once that happens, the seller absolutely has a right to refuse to provide any service for an event he or she doesn't agree with. It should not matter what the event is, or why the person doesn't want to participate in it.
I'll ask again: Do you think that a black baker should be required by law to provide a cake for a KKK rally? Yes or no. And not "sell a cake that is later eaten at a KKK rally". I mean, told that this is for a KKK rally. Asked to decorate it with symbols specific to the KKK rally. And perhaps even asked to deliver it to said KKK rally. You tell me what you think the law should require here and then tell me why you think it should require it. My issue is that too many people react emotionally to one contrived case and don't consider the broader ramifications of the law in question. The same law that would require a person to make a cake for a gay wedding would require someone to make a cake for a KKK rally (or anything that they may find objectionable for any reason at all). Our laws should not cherry pick groups and ideas that we like and dislike and treat them differently. They need to be consistent.