It may be illegal for gay bars to refuse service to Christians, but it shouldn’t be. Constitutional protections override any state or federal laws, and civil rights laws have created only more legal chaos and litigation.
Government no longer has an overriding compelling interest to force business to serve people they don’t want to serve. Freedom of association is protected by the constitution. I should not give up that right simply because I operate a business.
There are probably plenty of other gay bars available for Christians should they choose not to go to this particular one. No one’s fundamental freedoms are harmed by the gay bar’s actions, just like a homosexual couple hasn’t lost their freedom when a bakery won’t make a wedding cake for them. The constitution only protects citizens from discrimination by government, not privately owned businesses. It doesn’t give you a right to force someone else to serve you (unless that person represents the government of course).
Can you imagine the litigation that would go away if the SCOTUS spoke clearly on the constitutionally protected freedoms of association and religion as well as private property rights? As a society, we keep having to go back to the courts over and over again, because they’ve muddied the waters over something that should be nearly black and white.
I understand the civil rights era tossed out all sorts of constitutionally protected rights, because some white businesses were refusing to do business with blacks. Maybe in the day one could not buy groceries if one was black, because there was only one store and it refused to serve blacks. That’s probably not true today, because there are plenty of businesses that will serve anyone who enters the door.
That’s the bottom line here. If a private business wants to lose money by refusing to serve certain people, that should be their choice, and that is EXACTLY what will happen if some business starts turning away blacks or gays or Christians. It’s a stupid way to do business, so it will be self correcting over time (those businesses will likely cease to exist).
Again, none of this makes it OK for government to show ANY preference for anyone (like they do today...an absolute travesty) or discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or religion. Government is absolutely prevented by the constitution from treating people differently based on those constitutionally protected categories, gay being NOT one of them.
With ya all the way.!