Are there dangerous ideas?
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You cannot refuse to sell something you generically offer to the public to anyone in Spain unless they have been disruptive in your establishment or you have good reason that they are committing a crime in the process of requesting or using the product. You can refuse optional projects or “custom” work but you cannot refuse to sell a product because of their race/class/gender/sexuality. In the more extreme cases if you do not want to perform the service you can find a work around (it does happen) but you would be wise not to communicate this.
That’s kind of a toothless law, then. Just discriminate but don’t make a scene.
But of course custom is a tricky issue. If it is of an inane nature (like fitting a suit or a requested colour of a cake) then refusing a client because of their race/class/gender/sexuality will get you in trouble. Most of this makes sense. A free lance publisher can refuse to research and produce marketing material for a client whose ideology doesn’t mesh with theirs. They cannot however refuse to photocopy booklets just because they don’t agree with it (unless it is illegal material).
It’s only a “tricky issue” for governments that decide to involve themselves in cases that have rather obvious nongovernmental solutions. If gays simply kept a list of gay-unfriendly businesses, available to gays and gay-sympathizers alike, they could simply boycott them.
BTW, in the U.S. we have businesses with owners who oppose gay marriage. They will take gay cash but use it to undermine gay causes. Many Americans would name Chik-fil-A because they’ve been in the news with their policy. They might expect The Salvation Army and The Boy Scouts to also be on the list, Few would realize that the list also includes the likes of Urban Outfitters, Exxon, Purina, and the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. (source)
These laws are not controversial…
That’s kind of a backdoor argumenum ad populum, though, isn’t it?
The community licenses businesses and the community can refuse to license someone if they refuse to serve the community at large. If your religion interferes with serving the community at large then find another business where it doesn’t. No one is obliging you to make cakes. It seems like a no brainer to me. I feel sorry for people who live in a country where they are refused services because of their race/class/gender/sexuality/religion.
Of course, by handing it over to the community, you’re assuming that the community is wise and unprejudiced itself.
If gays simply kept a list of gay-unfriendly businesses, available to gays and gay-sympathizers alike, they could simply boycott them.
Easy to say when you’ve never faced discrimination once in your life…nor faced the indignity of public hatred for a quality you were born with and cannot change. I like how the marginalised groups always have to make concessions and tolerate hate. Not so easy when the only quality place in town that offers a service refuses to sell to you hey? How about getting over your bigotry and not refusing to serve faggots and ni***rs because they are gay or black or say finding another line of work where your biggotry or so called “values” force you to harm citizens for being they way they were born?
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