Shoreline joins 80 cities in support of non-discrimination case in front of Supreme Court
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
On Monday, October 16, the Shoreline City Council authorized Mayor Roberts and the City to join more than 80 other mayors and 70 jurisdictions from across the nation in a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief to support the rights of LGBTQ people to be free from discrimination. The amicus brief responds to the case Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission where a Colorado baker refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple based on his religious beliefs.
“Discrimination has no place in our community,” stated Mayor Roberts.
“While we support the right of individuals to practice their faith, it does not give them license to discriminate in their business practices.
"Everyone should have the right to engage in their community without threat of being discriminated against because of who they are.”
The Masterpiece case concerns a Denver area baker who refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple celebrating their civil marriage. The action was in direct violation of Colorado’s nondiscrimination law. Both the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and the state appellate court ruled in favor of the couple.
The case is vital to ensuring members of the LGBTQ community are protected from discrimination. The brief reads:
“Local non-discrimination protections embody our commitment to pluralism and tolerance in the public sphere, helping to ensure that members of our communities are able to live and work together despite differences in how they look, what they believe, or whom they love. The cohesiveness and inclusiveness of our communities depend on our ability to insist that everyone…treat one another equally and with respect in employment, housing, public accommodations, and other areas of public life.”
The brief argues that local laws are necessary to address significant harms against LGBTQ residents. Furthermore, recognizing an “exemption” from nondiscrimination laws based on speech or religious grounds would cause harm against LGBTQ people and the cities they live in.
The County of Santa Clara and the cities of Los Angeles and New York filed the brief on behalf of the 150 plus mayors and jurisdictions who signed it. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on December 5, 2017.
Posts
3 comments:
This isn’t a nondiscrimination case. This is a religious and freedom of conscience case. The baker was punished because he was asked to participate in an event that violated his consience. He chose to opt out and povided an alternative. The city of Shoreline should support the rights of individuals to to be able freely choose where they spend their efforts and resources. I am ashamed of our ignorant mayor.
We could still have Jim Crow laws throughout the country if people had cited religion as the reason for their discrimination against "coloreds". Religion belongs in church and not the public square, regardless of what many of our elected officials blather.
Say what? Jim Crow was put in place by the secular Democrat party. It was people of conscience (many motivated by their faith) who worked to get rid of it. This case isn’t about religion in the public square, but thank you for exposing your bigotry. This is about private conscience. All people should hope the baker wins his case. Do we really want the government forcing people to violate any of their convictions....religious or not? Should a gay baker be required to cater for a biblical marriage conference if he doesn’t want to? Shoild a Vegan photographer be required to be the official photographer at a meat packing plant? Feeedom demands that people be allowed to be free—even if we don’t agree with their views.
Post a Comment