A Simple Solution

In several cases in recent news, Christian business people such as florists and bakers have gotten in trouble with local authorities for refusing to sell goods and services to weddings between homosexuals. A pizza joint in Indiana was threatened and pressured to close after its owner said she would not want to cater the wedding of a homosexual couple.  In an attempt to turn the tables, a Christian asked various bakeries to produce cakes featuring quotes from the Bible condemning homosexuality and filed complaints with authorities when he was turned down. Presumed mainly Christian sympathizers with the owners of the pizza place raised almost a million dollars for them with an online appeal. Things seem to be both getting hot and being heated up by both conservatives and leftists in the media.

To libertarians the means of dealing with such disputes are  obvious. Simply leave people alone and let them make their own decisions about what they want to do. If a Christian or Muslim baker does not want to bake a cake for the wedding of a homosexual couple,  let him lose the business, and let the people getting married go find a willing vendor and make their purchase from him.  If people find the actions of the baker objectionable and bigoted, let them decide not to patronize his  store and go buy  their cookies and pastries elsewhere.   

That is how such a dispute would be handled in a free and civil society.   In our present environment which is not fully free and far from civil, we often get instead antagonistic groups fighting to use the coercive power of government to make other people obey their dictates.  Such a condition, besides being wrong and violating the rights of the losers, is dangerous for the winners. Political winds change, and a government that can force a Christian to act against his principles today can force someone else to act against his next month or next year.  It is not only more ethical but more prudent to respect and demand respect for the rights of all, including the rights of those who do things one disapproves of.