I ran across this letter to the editor in the July 6th edition of The Columbia Paper concerning the recent Supreme Court ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis (from NYTimes: “Supreme Court Backs Web Designer Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage“) allowing businesses to discriminate against people based on religious views.

This letter poses such a great idea that perhaps we can start a movement to get local and state authorities to make it law.

When I first heard of the ruling from the Supreme Court, allowing certain businesses to be able to discriminate against LGBT, I was first shocked then disappointed, sad and now frustrated and scared.

I was in the closet for most of my life and seeing how gay people were treated firsthand. I’m in my 60s now. I’ve been with my husband for 26 years. It wasn’t until my late 30s where I started to see myself being represented in TVs and movies that I felt less afraid. This eventually y it give me courage to come out and eventually get married now seeing all this hate is scary times again.

I wouldn’t want to walk into a business to ask to have a service performed to then be made to feel less than they are. I would need to know upfront from the business so I wouldn’t subject myself to the trauma again.

I think they need to add some conditions to that law: I want the business to publicly disclose what groups they discriminate against; I want the public disclosure on all their promotional materials and business cards posted at their entrances next to their hours, on their menu boards; at their drive ups, on the home page of their website and all their social media accounts. And if they sell products on hubs like Amazon, it should be included in their vendor profiles. Let the customers know you’re a bigot, homophobe, Islamophobia, antisemitic or transphobe, have courage of your convictions and let customers decide if they want to financially support your convictions. If a more welcoming competitor opens across the street and you go out of business, at least you know your rights to not like certain groups were not violated. However if someone discriminates against someone or a group they didn’t publicly dis-close, they should be sued and face fines.
Dane Weintraub
A subscriber

This is a wonderful idea. I might add some further requirements for the notices. Specify a type size that can be read from 6 ft away. Position on or next to the entrance(s). Perhaps a standardized symbol that be displayed at the top of the notice. A standard form.

NOTICE

For reasons of our religious faith, we do not sell, serve, or otherwise do business with the following people: __________________________

Notices on websites would have to be at the top of the home page in 36 point type. The notice would also appear in the footer of every page. All advertisements would have to display the notice.