Dear Editor:
Mr. Horstmann regales us again with his wisdom on May 15 complaining that the poor Christians are being vilified and discriminated against because the LGBT community will deny the Christians of their constitutional rights. It's not surprising Horstmann has bought into this argument because it is widely trumpeted by the Christian right (his news sources are listed in his Op-Ed). They are pitiably wrong, as is he.
Take for example, that poor discriminated against baker in Oregon. She was taking the order for a wedding cake and asked the names of the betrothed. When told two female names she immediately refused to continue the order and now faces huge fines.
The radical Christians have labeled this as an affront to their faith. However, let us think about the situation just a little. What if the two names had been from another minority, such as black, or Hispanic? The bakery would have been in clear violation of the local discrimination laws. If you can substitute black, brown, green, yellow, orange, or purple for "LBGT" in the sentence that you use as justification to deny services (such as baking a cake), you are not exercising religious liberty, you are discriminating.
Horstmann begs the question; "Wouldn't a pastor be required to perform a gay wedding"? Well, maybe. There is case law being built around this question. Normally, the expectation would be that a pastor would not be required to conduct a same sex wedding in the church. (The church should be free to establish its ministry, and if the church accepts same sex unions, it would be between the church members and the pastor to work out differences.)
However, in some cases the religious exemption would not apply. A current flap is in the Idaho resort town of Coeur d'Alene Idaho. Two Christian ministers run a small wedding chapel (the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel.) Under the current interpretation of the anti-discrimination law, their little business is a "for profit public accommodation." Those two ministers would be expected to perform same sex marriages. They will be at peril if they fail to comply. And well they should be. Religious liberty is just that. Liberty. It does not give the right to discriminate.
Horstmann often complains about his constitutional rights in this forum. Tell me, Mr. Horstmann, does the Constitution apply to a gay citizen of these United States?
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