Scott Shackford: Nobody, Gay or Straight, Has the Right to a Wedding Cake
(Gexydaf / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND)
The national public argument over Arizona Senate Bill 1062 revolved around who had the right to discriminate in the marketplace and what reasons (religion, in this case) they could use to justify such behavior. The bill was vetoed amid vocal outrage about the state putting its stamp of approval on discrimination. But a recent poll shows that a vast majority of Americans support the right of a photographer, for example, to decline to shoot a gay wedding. Scott Shackford argues that rather than looking at who can discriminate and for what reasons, we really should look at what goods and services are covered by public accommodation laws in the first place and whether the protections are even needed.