Starting from a misunderstanding of true rights, many activists in Indiana are upset at a law which would allow businesses to choose their customers. This case needs to be broken down for most because of how we’ve been brainwashed to think about freedom. Freed…free….what? Yes, freedom, a word that has nearly been banned in modern culture.
Indiana governor Mike Pence enacted a religious freedom bill which says individuals and businesses can refuse to do business with certain individuals on religious grounds. The only group that really matters in society of course is the LGBT community so naturally the bill is called “anti-gay”.
The reason it’s anti-gay is that it allows businesses to assault gay people and to imprison them against their will once their sexual preference is discovered. Oops – my bad, I was thinking about actual rights violations. Silly me. In actual fact, this law allows businesses to choose not to perform work for someone they don’t want to.
Now to most people who are not liberty-minded, this is a terrible injustice which needs to be corrected. The opposite is actually true. If you’re still reading, you’re probably not liberty-minded, but let’s break it down nonetheless.
Free individuals should be allowed to choose the work they do. Forcing them to do work which is morally offensive to them against their will is a form of slavery. It is the claim that you own the labour of another person despite the fact they do not want to provide it. If I design websites and a gay group wants me to create a page featuring lurid pictures and information about gay sexual activities and I refuse, does this make me a bigot? No, it means I have free choice of the work I do, and I choose not to partake in that form of work.
Dozens of businesses have been shut down because the owners did not want to bake a cake or perform some other form of activity they found morally offensive.
To those still not convinced, imagine the opposite. Imagine a white supremacist group approaching a black-owned printing company and asking them to print flyers proclaiming the racial superiority of whites. Would we consider the business racist or bigoted for not complying? I doubt it.
But this shouldn’t be about religious liberty, it should be just about liberty in general. How dare someone tell me or anyone else they are FORCED to worked against their will for someone else. Aren’t we free people? If I don’t like someone’s breath, I should have the right to refuse to work with them. Similarly if a bottled water company wants me to design their site but I’m a staunch environmentalist, I should have the right to refuse because I think water bottles are bad for the environment. It really doesn’t matter the reason. The same goes for a business. If someone starts up a business, they own that business. People work there voluntarily as employees and thus are contractually obligated to carry out the wishes of the employer. If they do not want to, they can quit. Everything is voluntary.
Never do I hear the argument that because a small cake shop refuses to bake a cake for a gay wedding or because a private bed and breakfast refuses to rent its property to an unmarried couple for the night, these customers will be unable to receive this service anywhere. That’s not the issue. If a business refuses service to you, go elsewhere. I guarantee you someone wants your business. With all the gay activist groups out there, I’m sure having a cake baked isn’t a big deal. And even if you cannot find a single store anywhere that will provide this service, tough. That still doesn’t justify involuntary servitude, aka slavery. I might want any number of services which are not available and I just have to live with that, I don’t stick a gun to someone’s head and demand they provide it or else I will heavily fine them, shut down their business, or jail them.
I don’t know why people can’t just, I don’t know, walk away? You walk into a business, they say no thanks we won’t serve you, why don’t you just go to another business. A business which turns everyone away will soon lose any competitive advantage.
Another great question is why would a gay couple demand that an anti-gay marriage shop bake them a gay marriage cake? Why would they insist on giving this store their money? This boggles my mind. They should immediately bring their business elsewhere. The reason is they don’t care if this particular shop bakes their cake, they just want to force businesses to accept them.
Some people will say but what if there was a store that said “no blacks allowed”? Should they be allowed to stay in business? My answer is yes for the reasons above. Freedom is a natural human right and people should be free to do business with whomever they choose. If someone wants to have a store for blacks only, so be it. I will go elsewhere. I won’t demand that the Black Panthers accept me anymore than a black man will demand the KKK accept him. To force anyone to do work against their will is a form of slavery and I’m pretty sure most people are against slavery.
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