Trump believes bakers can discriminate against gay couples on grounds of religious liberty

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Daily News

There’s no sugar-coating it, President Trump believes a baker has the right to refuse service to same-sex couples.

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in a case concerning a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple based on his religious beliefs.

Asked about Trump’s thoughts, a White House official said the biased baker has a backer in the Oval Office.

“The President certainly supports religious liberty,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “That’s something that he talked about during the campaign that has been upheld since taking office.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-sides-baker-refusing-service-gays-scotus-case-article-1.3679370

[no_hypocrisy]

1. And can racial discrimination be revived if a person believed s/he didn't have to serve

someone whose race offended him/her -- on a religious basis, of course . . . . .

[Docreed2003]

3. Exactly...and a court case from 64 ruled on that issue

A white owner of a chain of BBQ restaurants in SC took his “religious freedom to descriminate” case to the Supreme Court...and lost. This is no different. I just hope the majority of justices see it the same way!

[no_hypocrisy]

4. There's the risk of overturning that case if Kennedy votes for the bakers.

[Docreed2003]

5. I know, which is frightening.

[jmowreader]

9. Here's the case you're thinking of

https://www.leagle.com/decision/19661197256fsupp94111032.xml

Racist idiot Maurice Bessinger attempted to slide past the Civil Rights Act by not purchasing supplies from out of state and by not serving "interstate travelers." It didn't work.

[Docreed2003]

10. Thanks!!

That’s exactly the case!

[christx30]

11. Yeah that guy was a real piece of work.

Pro-slavery in the 1960s. Gave people a discount on their food if they bought his literature. Believed that slavery was good for blacks. That's a man that the world will not miss.

[jmowreader]

14. Bessinger's obit is really excellent

https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/HaireoftheDog/archives/2014/02/24/maurice-bessinger-bbq-baron-and-unrepentant-racist-dies

While I cannot attest to Maurice Bessinger's present whereabouts, I feel fairly confident that if the recently deceased Piggie Park baron and unrepentant racist had ended up in the bowels of hell, Satan and his minions would slather his body in mustard-based BBQ sauce before they dined — not because the yellow stuff is the best, but simply because it would be the poetic choice.

And a story on six major grocery chains not selling Bessinger's bottled sauce because of his unbottled racism:
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/29/us/sauce-is-boycotted-and-slavery-is-the-issue.html

[christx30]

15. Happily, he lost that lawsuit.

And the boycott cost him millions.
Goes to show how segregation is bad for everyone. If you refuse to do business with people, people can refuse to do business with you.

[Marthe48]

2. another lock taken off the hate door

what a travesty of humanity.

[Dr_Pretorius]

6. Our "President" has no decency, ethics, or morals

He craves only power and praise. He would gladly imprison those who oppose him.

[Corgigal]

7. Fatass needs to shut up about issues in front of the court.

It's just not about him and he just doesn't get it. His opinion doesn't count.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Liberty to not bake a cake, liberty to buy a cake

I just never did see how business is a religious enterprise, or how one bakes one's religion into a cake or any other product.

How did this issue never arise over Kosher products?

How do you put religiosity into cakes? Without a member of the clergy doing it?

And the buyers of these cakes that don't want to be baked ... they're not afraid of bad vibes from the product? They contract for a cake, but they get something else in the mix - someone else's religion!

Businesses who are unfriendly I usually avoid. Though I don't think any of them dislike me, hate me, or wish me evil.
If they don't want my business, I go elsewhere.

That might be the result of all this litigation.

[SWBTATTReg]

12. and where do you draw the line?

Next thing is a taxi driver won't give a ride to a gay person, or a home builder won't build a home for an Asian person, or the bank won't help a black person, or that a supposedly Mexican looking guy being refused service somewhere when in fact, he's Texan, etc., etc., etc.

In trying to prove that first of all someone is gay or not is a little hard to do. Are their foreheads stamped w/ the logo 'gay' on their forehead?

I say that the bakers discriminated against the 'gay' cake / 'gay' couple, pure and simple. If a murderer walked into this same baker, the baker would bake a cake for this kind of person w/o the least bit of knowledge of this particular person's background. How horrid.

This is the same kind of discrimination . If open for business, one should serve all equally, w/ no blinds.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. Name any policy, trump's position will always be the most bitter and devisive one.

[jmowreader]

16. "Religious liberty" isn't the problem here

Trump despises anyone who isn't like him - a white, rich, heterosexual Republican. He sees the cake issue as a way to stick it to one of the groups he hates, that being gays.

[Yavin4]

17. But...but...her emails!

I will never ever stop saying it. Elections matter. The civil rights of your fellow American hang in the balance on every vote.

[no_hypocrisy]

18. The U.S.S.C. has tried to balance religious belief with religious practice via the Free Exercise

Clause in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

For example, the Court determined that although polygamy had been practice for a couple of centuries by Mormons and although it was practiced without coercion (most of the time), if state and federal authorities wanted to ban the practice for the sake of societal norms, making it illegal would not be a barrier to Mormons believing in their faith. In other words, they would believe whatever they wanted; they just couldn't do whatever they wanted under the cover of their faith.

In this situation, the baker didn't want to create and sell a custom-designed cake for a gay wedding. While he may be confounded and against gay marriage, if he made the cake, it wouldn't be promoting gay marriage. It would be a non-religious commercial transaction. Making the cake for a gay wedding would not prevent him from believing his religious tenets. Again, he could believe whatever he wants while he's making the cake.


As an aside, about 7-8 years ago, in NJ, two parents wanted a supermarket to make a birthday cake for their 3-year old son, whom they happened to name Adolf Hitler. (Well, that's because they were Nazis . . . . ) The supermarket refused to make a cake that stated in icing Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler as management deemed it inappropriate. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28269290/ns/us_news-weird_news/t/-year-old-hitler-cant-get-name-cake/#.WidIILpFx9A The matter never went to court but got plenty of media attention. If it had, would the First Amendment demand that the store make a cake that offended the political views of store?