If you even have a memory of our pre-Covid world, you may remember a contingent of folks who said that Clinton and Trump were the same. We scoffed at that characterization at the time, and NOW we want to make sure that idiotic notion is removed from everyone’s thought process…FOREVER!
A little over a year ago we wrote a post lamenting the dismantling of Roe V. Wade. In the year since that decision, we’ve seen states restrict a woman’s right to control her own body in a variety of Handmaid Tale ways. The hopefully unintended consequences of these laws have been OB/GYNs leaving those states, rape and incest victims being further traumatized, and a variety of other outcomes as outlined in this NIH study.
This week presented us with even more evidence as to how both candidates were not the same! A few days back we saw the court attack affirmative action programs because apparently discrimination is a thing of the past!
Today they took the right to discriminate even further. A web designer, who had never even been asked to create a website for a gay wedding, sued the state of Colorado because she feared that one day she may be asked to do so! Yes you read that right! We also just saw this woman on MSNBC and she said this was a victory for everyone! Because everyone should have the right to make other people’s lives as difficult as possible because they believe you are destined for hell!
(Be sure to read the quote she chose to have displayed behind her. Cognitive dissonance is a real problem in this country!)
Public accommodation laws have been in place since the 1960s. If you chose to open a business that serves the public then you serve the public! So, now let’s think about what’s going to happen as a result of this ruling. We already have a former gubernatorial candidate declaring that taking your kids to a pride festival is child abuse (scroll down to the post he made from a screenshot from Everything Frederick, be sure to read the comments as well). Not to mention we’ve had to deal with Cindy Rose and her new Transparency in Education alliance who wants to equate gay rights with grooming children for sexual abuse. Frederick County Government also did a nice post about the Pride festival and the winning of a lego set and some of our local numbskulls are now using it as an opportunity to show their homophobic nature. This case will embolden these types of people. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing signs that refuse service to LGBTQ+ people. Don’t be surprised when we start to see more violence as well. What a dark day.
Justice Satomayor’s dissent says it all:
Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants
a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse
to serve members of a protected class. Specifically, the
Court holds that the First Amendment exempts a websitedesign company from a state law that prohibits the company from denying wedding websites to same-sex couples if
the company chooses to sell those websites to the public.
The Court also holds that the company has a right to post a
notice that says, “‘no [wedding websites] will be sold if they
will be used for gay marriages.’”
And….
Now the Court faces a similar test. A business open to
the public seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full
and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owner’s
religious belief that same-sex marriages are “false.” The
business argues, and a majority of the Court agrees, that
because the business offers services that are customized
and expressive, the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law
that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services. That is wrong. Profoundly wrong.
As I will explain, the law in question targets conduct, not
speech, for regulation, and the act of discrimination has
never constituted protected expression under the First
Amendment. Our Constitution contains no right to refuse
service to a disfavored group. I dissent.
And if you don’t think Republicans won’t try to expand restrictions to other groups, we don’t have any words for you, except maybe “Bless Your Heart”. We can’t even get into the loan forgiveness decision because there is just so much we can deal with in a day. But we will say one thing. When one of your Lady Yokels was having her first baby Yokel in the early 2000s, one of her co workers lamented the fact that 6 weeks maternity leave (!) was paid for while they only got 2. And not lamented in a way that progress was made, she thought it was unfair. Therefore, if we go by that logic, and by extension the logic of some of these student loan forgiveness dissenters, nothing should ever change ever because of “fairness”. It’s really amazing that human civilization has evolved as far as it has.
frederick local yokel 