>>In the second case a private individual should able to refuse any business he or she chooses - doesn't even need state a reason.
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>Welll...that's not quite 100% correct. Smart thing would be to NOT provide a reason or simply to lie (like we're too busy to do it). You can't refuse business to someone as a result of discrimination - can't tell someone you don't want their business because they're black right? Same thing here - can't refuse customer because they're gay. ......actually the 'smart' thing to do would be not to be an ass to start with and take the pictures...hahaha
I completely agree it is true that to refuse a client because of race or orientation or whatever is ethically wrong.
But is it legally wrong, if you a not a public venue or company but merely an individual for hire?
As a programmer, a single individual, if someone wants to hire me to do the membership database for the Aryan Nation, am I allowed to say I hate everything you stand for and refuse to work for you? Their organization - like the Klan - is legal. But do they have a legal right to my services?
Gay marriage let's assume is legal but if I have a religious objection am I legally required to participate as part of the support staff?
I accept advertising on my Opus Dei blog. Am I legally required to accept advertising for Planned Parenthood?
I do think that if I were the person attempting to hire someone and they said I don't like you I don't want the job I would be quite grateful to know that up front and go on to someone more sympatico.
Suing over this would be a political statement but I don't think it should accomplish anything but to highlight someone's behavior that I found worthy of censure. (the photographer in this case)
Actually I think venues should be able to refuse any group that wants to book them - as long as they will publicly state the reasons and "We hate Black people/Gays/Latinos" is fine. Let's see what that does to their business.
Let people declare their beliefs, prejudices, hatreds and small-mindedness and let the market sort it out. I think in today's environment they would be on the wrong side of history.
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.