After reading up on the news regarding Arizonas "turn the gay away" bill, which may become a law soon, I decided to take a break from the other articles I'm working on to write this quick op-ed piece. You can read up on the story here from CNN, here from the Arizona Daily Star, and the actual bill from AZ can be found here. (I had to do a good deal of searching to find the bill itself since no news outlets seemed to actually reference it.)
Long story short, lines 8-11 and 19-21 give business owners immunity if they refuse service to anyone (not just gays) if servicing an individual strains the business owners religious beliefs. If you're an old-school Mormon, you could refuse to serve black people. If you're a Muslim, you can refuse service to non-Muslims.
Suppose there are business owners who enforce this should it become law, which there almost certainly will be. How exactly do you determine if someone does or does not fit your criteria? Unless we begin to go German and force people to wear certain things designating their lifestyle or beliefs, it is up to the discernment of the business owner whether or not a customer fits the criteria to be serviced.
The thing that really gets me is that the government is saying who a business can and cannot serve. There is a major difference between regulating products to ensure they are safe and regulating the relationship between a business and its customers. I have major sympathies for the Libertarian party and, with that attitude, believe a business owner should be allowed to do business with whoever they decide. You as an individual have a right to do business with whoever you choose, except in the case of legal action such as a lawsuit, subpoena, etc.
When it comes to freedom of speech, freedom of religions, right to bear arms, etc., anything should be allowed so long as it does not harm another persons right to do so. However, if you are providing goods or a service then why should anyone have the right to tell you who you can and cannot serve?
Do I support arbitrarily discriminating against people? No, not at all. But I do support the right for a business to refuse service to anyone for any reason just as much as I support the right for customers to not buy from a business they do not wish to buy from. When it comes right down to it, the business is losing a customer. I'm sure anyone can see how that is going to hurt them, so let them do it to themselves and keep the government out of it.
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