A couple of days ago I remarked on the fact that I had never seen the obvious point made, in coverage of “free speech” attempts to legalize anti-gay discrimination, that the same logic could be applied to racial or religious discrimination. I still haven’t seen it made by a member of the press, but it appears that at least one judge has made the obvious connection.
Fresh off being labeled a hate group for promoting vehemently anti-LGBTQ extremism, hate group Alliance Defending Freedom’s lawsuit on behalf of a homophobic couple that wanted to challenge the Minnesota Human Rights Act by refusing service to same-sex couples has been dismissed by a judge, who wrote in his decision this week that the couple’s wish to put a notice on their website saying they wouldn’t provide video recording services to gay couples “conduct akin to a ‘White Applicants Only’ sign”:
In his ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge John Tunheim described that as “conduct akin to a ‘White Applicants Only’ sign” that may be outlawed without infringing on First Amendment rights.
“Posting language on a website telling potential customers that a business will discriminate based on sexual orientation is part of the act of sexual orientation discrimination itself,” the judge wrote. “As conduct carried out through language, this act is not protected by the First Amendment.”
via Daily Kos
This is not a departure, it is fairly well settled law. Some speech is more than speech; it’s action.
I’m glad to be wrong on this one. Here’s hoping the Supremes have as much sense as Judge Tunheim (but don’t count on it).
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