12.5.17

Today, the Supreme Court reviewed the case involving a baker and a same sex couple. The couple requested a wedding cake from the baker, and he declined. He said he would not make a cake for them because he was against gay marriage. The couple sued the baker, and the case made it in front of the Supreme Court. The case lasted 90 minutes, which is half an hour longer than the typical 1 hour allotted.

To look at the case through an unbiased lens, I would try to look from a perspective not related to gay marriage. Should the baker have to bake any type of cake? What if someone wants a cake with something else that offends him? Should he just have to make any cake that gets requested? I believe a person providing a service, owning their own business, should be allowed set limits around the services they provide. However, when it steps on other’s equal rights, those limitations are not okay.

The two sides are arguing freedom of speech and religious freedom versus discrimination, and both seem to have a good point. And, whatever way the Supreme Court decided, a HUGE precedent would be set.

The ACLU, who was defending the couple, mentioned that if the court ruled in favor of the baker that all service providers (lawyers, restaurants, florists, and others) would be able to deny services to people. This would then be setting an allowance for discrimination.

There are several different directions the court could choose to rule in. The issue I see is drawing a line between out-of-the-box services and products compared to custom creations or projects. A custom job often takes personal feeling to complete, and I can see the baker’s perspective. It would be morally difficult for him to make a cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding because he is strongly against it.

In my opinion, the baker should have made the cake. He is a jerk for not providing the cake for the couple’s gay wedding. And, would it have really been that hard for him to do? However, I don’t think we can force people to provide a custom service they are not comfortable providing. It is a tough case, and that is precisely why it was presented to the Supreme Court. Civil rights matter. All people should be able to have access to the same goods and services. However, we can’t force someone to create a unique product around something they don’t believe in.

I would rule in favor of the baker. The baker would need to sell a standard wedding cake to couple, but he would not have to create a custom version. A ruling like that would not set well with me, however, there is a fine line between forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do (the baker) and not affording the same right to one as you would another (the gay couple). Ugh. Our legal system is amazing. It is a blessing and a difficulty that laws are not cut and dry. They are up for interpretation and open to evolve as times change. Very cool stuff!!