The Maelstrom of Violence

[pbrower2a]

I have seen plenty of signs that say "No shirt/no shoes/no service"... All establishments have the right to oust troublemakers, which explains why bars have bouncers. It is reasonable to expect that a gas station would reasonably refuse to supply gasoline for jerrycans to complete strangers when a civil disorder is going on. Tough luck if you need the gas for your lawn mower unless  you are a regular and you are in the lawn-mowing business, in which case I might make an exception.  

It's clear that providing a cake for a same-sex, interfaith, or interracial wedding is not in itself an endorsement of the wedding. Maybe if I owned a bakery I might have a helper who refuses to complete the cake for a same-sex wedding due to religious convictions. So I would have the helper do as much of the cake as does not offend the helper's sensibilities and I would squeeze the names "Linda and Louise" or "Paul and Pete" onto the cake and affix the statuette of a same-sex couple.

But this goes to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Obergfell vs. Hedges. The narrowest ruling is that one cannot discriminate against same-sex couples as such.  Were I a bakery-owner I would have no problem with providing the cake. I would probably be expected to comply with a USSC ruling on non-discrimination. But some things are not corollaries of the ruling. Freedom of speech includes the right to remain silent as well as to say what might be objectionable to others.

So what is beyond the scope of the ruling?

1. A cake that advocates violent deeds. "Hang the Governor!" would fit into that category, even if I loathe the Governor.

2. Indecency. The cake for "Linda and Louise" or "Paul and Pete" had better not depict a sex act. That's the same for "Pete and Linda", too. No filthy language, either.

3. Threats. A bookie who asks me to make a cake shaped like a tombstone that tells someone to "Pay Up or Sleep With the Fishies" as a threat to someone owing a gambling debt would get an obvious refusal.

4. Something advocating or promoting an exploitative relationship, as with pedophila. Enough said.

5. Emblems of extremism, including swastikas, hammers-and-sickles, KKK stuff, etc., and inflammatory slogans. Democratic and Republican symbols do not qualify as extremism -- yet.

6. Something requiring a license for which I have no license. If I do not have the license to put Disney characters on your kid's birthday cake, then I will not put Donald Duck on your birthday cake. If I have the license to put Warner Brothers' cartoon characters on your kid's birthday cake, I might suggest "Daffy" instead. I have no obligation to put myself at risk for a lawsuit for a trademark or copyright violation.

7. Use your imagination for other circumstances.

The courts typically rule narrowly.