Marty Lederman writes:
> I would respectfully dissent from [the] suggestion that ... gays and
> lesbians really suffer much harm by being denied services or jobs or housing
> on the
> basis of their sexual orientation because they "could get such services --
> often at a higher quality -- just fine from lots of other providers." ...
> With all respect, I think this sort of standard libertarian skepticism about
> the
> need for antidiscrimination laws significantly trivializes very serious
> harms.
>
- I don't doubt that some people suffer very serious harms from being denied
goods and services based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.,
even if they could easily obtain the same goods and services elsewhere.
- Nor, however, do I doubt that some people suffer very serious harms from
being forced to serve certain other people in certain ways, when providing such
service contravenes their sincerely-held religious or moral beliefs.
- And it seems to me that the harms in these two cases are essentially
identical: some combination of emotional distress and moral outrage.
- So is there any reason (other than where our personal sympathies happen to
lie) to assume that the harm in case #1 is categorically greater than the harm
in case #2, or that the harm in case #2 is categorically greater than the
harm in case #1?
- Given that equal protection and religious freedom are both constitutional
values, is there any reason why the legal system should categorically favor the
person suffering harm in case #1 over the person suffering harm in case #2,
or the person suffering harm in case #2 over the person suffering harm in case
#1?
Art Spitzer
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