Let's Go Bigotry!

Like many folks who are probably Too Online for their own good, I spend too much of my day angry at the world. I have no particular personal reason to be angry, which is obvious to me and those around me, and yet, here we are. 

I come by it honestly, apparently. My Dad was an outwardly hard gent. He had high standards for his kids, especially in terms of how we interacted with the world and how we treated others. He could and did give off an air of gruffness. Dude loved to laugh, to be sure - he used to drive my Mom crazy by sending me and my sister into paroxysms of guffaws (and he was sure to join in) at the dinner table. He had a sly, dry sarcasm that could be both witty and cutting. But man, did he have very little patience for fools, bullies, or charlatans.

Dad?

My aunt (my Dad's sister) cracked the code for me a few years after he died. Your father, she told me, was hard on the outside, but a marshmallow on the inside. He felt things deeply, but didn't want the world to know. Injustice and unfairness pissed him off. Given his chosen professions (military officer and high school administrator), his outlets for that anger in the workplace were limited. And because he was a man of a certain era, it wasn't socially acceptable to be as loudly obnoxious about thoughts and feelings as his son. So he mostly held it in.

He needed a blog, as it turns out.

All of which is a long introduction to the topic of the day (it's the topic du jour). Here's a thought experiment inspired by events in the news: what if we let bigots legally be bigots, at least in certain circumstances?

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of 303 Creative v. Elenis. The plaintiff is a web designer from Colorado named Lorie Smith who seeks the right to deny services to same-sex couples who want custom wedding websites. (Pay no mind to the fact that Smith doesn't currently offer such services as part of her business - she's asking the Court for a preemptive judgment, permission to discriminate, as it were.) Per SCOTUSBlog's analysis, the Court seems predisposed to grant Smith's petition in this case.

I'm no legal scholar, so I'll refer you to the link above for analysis of the jurisprudence at work. But let's assume the Court finds for Smith and allows her to choose not to serve same-sex couples. So what?

Conservatives famously believe in the free market. In a scenario such as this where there are presumably multiple providers of web design services for weddings, why don't we allow the Lorie Smiths of the world their prejudice? Let the market decide - if you're comfortable working with a bigot (and there will be those who are), hire her. If you're not, choose a competitor. And we all spend less energy on this topic.

This approach obviously has limitations. If there's not competition in a specific product or service category, discrimination clearly harms the interests of the minority. And physicians, therapists, and other healthcare providers can't be allowed to refuse patients based on their biases due to proximate potential physical and mental harm. I'm sure the assembled giant hive mind will quickly identity other cases where this approach won't work. But why couldn't it in cases like the one in front of the Court.

It's said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Rather than forcing bigots underground, why not allow them freedom of their beliefs, unencumbered by legal stricture? You get to serve the market you wish to serve. We get to call you on it and let the community know about your stance. Let the chips fall where they may.

I recognize that determining what services/products should be exempted from this laissez-faire approach to accommodation is a challenge. That's why we have a court system! (I'm hearing from my producers that the court system is a bit biased itself at the moment - that's a potential flaw in my proposal.) I further understand that mine is probably an unworkable approach for many reasons.

But what's the argument against the disinfecting benefit of sunlight? What say you, good people of Gheorghe?