Masterpiece Cakeshop LTD. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission…
The United States Supreme Court has just ruled that it is LEGAL for the owner of a private business, otherwise open to serving the public, to refuse to serve a gay (queer, trans, etc) person based on the business owner’s religious beliefs.
There’s a lot more legal analysis that has to be done by Constitutional law experts before more definitive legal determinations can be made. But the really scary part about this decision is that it was a 7 to 2 decision by the Supreme Court, 7 ruling in favor of the homophobic business owner, 2 against. Which means that it’s not even close to being overturned by a subsequent court case. If anything, it signals the opposite: that subsequent cases are likely to be decided in favor of religious rights over human rights for queer people.
This case is not just limited to the rights of gay people…what it says is that the religious beliefs of a business owner are privileged over other human rights; that the religious beliefs of a business owner must be taken into consideration when deciding whether it is legal for him or her to discriminate against a customer, even if that customer asserts human rights based on another legally protected status, such as gender, ethnicity or other religious beliefs.