Where Does Free Speech End And LGBT+ Discrimination Begin?
“Free speech is not always a given, especially when it causes harm or offense to others. When these instances occur, people begin to ask if freedom of speech trumps the feelings of others, or if the basic right of free speech is inherently more valuable,” states ‘Masters In Communications’.
In the United States protecting the First Amendment is of core significance. And part of the First Amendment is the right to speak freely. But now, with the Trump Administration questioning all sorts of laws and rights, the question arises: Where does free speech end and LGBT+ discrimination begin?
Already, a few cases have reached court debating whether it is legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation or even deny service to someone because they are LGBT+. And some cases have been won in account of freedom of speech.
Earlier this year the case of Brush & Nib who sued Phoenix made news, arguing that “the city’s ban on discrimination violated the company’s freedom of speech." The company only wanted to print wedding invitations for same-sex couples. The owners said they were “devout Christians” who wanted to “overturn the civil rights law before any complaints could be filed against them.” They won the case.
Another case was that of a Christian baker who refused service to a same-sex couple. After the case went to the Supreme Court, the court “sided” with the baker.
'The Daily Beast' states that “The First Amendment requires government officials to be neutral toward religion, and the Colorado civil rights commission was not. The Civil Rights Commission’s treatment of [Phillips’] case has some elements of a clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs that motivated his objection.
“The issues underneath are hard: they are about the conflict between the First Amendment and rights to be free from discrimination. Is a cake “speech?” Did Phillips refuse to bake a generic cake for gay people, or did he refuse to bake a special gay-wedding cake? When does a sincere religious belief justify discrimination, and when doesn’t it?
“The answer is, we still don’t know.”
As Ria Tobacco Mar simply put it, “In essence, the bakery seeks a right to hang a sign proclaiming: “Wedding Cakes for Heterosexuals Only”.
What could be argued by some as an obvious sign of discrimination, unfortunately, looks like is debatable. Right now the Trump Administration is ‘fighting’ to make it legal for someone to be fired for being gay or trans, a clear indication of discrimination. This move would reverse civil rights for many and would mean a step backward to all the steps forward won for the LGBT+ community in the past years.
According to Sam Levin writing for ‘The Guardian’, “Last month, the Trump justice department made its most aggressive anti-gay legal argument to date, urging the supreme court to rule that gay employees are not protected under a longstanding act that prohibits “sex discrimination”.
“Courts have repeatedly affirmed that LGBT people are covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the federal government has agreed. But the DoJ is now arguing that sexual orientation and gender identity are excluded under Title VII because “sex” narrowly refers to whether people are “biologically male or female”.
Right now, three cases are heard in the Supreme Court where it will be decided whether ‘sex’, included in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, includes sexual orientation and gender identity. If this is to not be included discrimination could reach even higher levels.
“This is a critical point in history,” said Alesdair Ittelson, the law and policy director at interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, according to ‘The Guardian’. “The outcome of this case is going to have a tremendous impact on everyone.”
As stated by ‘The Economist’: “The question before America’s Supreme Court isn’t whether wedding cakes are art or expression protected by the freedom of speech. It is whether a state can prevent the harms of discrimination against people because of who they are, including when they seek to buy artistic or expressive products. Under the US Constitution, it can.”
Freedom of speech is a very vague expression. Some include homophobic comments as their right to express their opinion, others include it as an opportunity to discriminate against others. It is, of course, important to be able to speak your mind, as it has been for many LGBT+ people and activists who used freedom of speech in their fight towards equality. But there is a silver lining between having the freedom to express your opinion and to discriminate against others, which has to be clearly set globally.
As ‘Ann Frank House’ writes: “Freedom of expression is an important human right, but so is the right not to be discriminated against. Nobody wants to be discriminated against or excluded because of whatever happens to be their background, skin colour or religion. The ban on discrimination is at the heart of our human rights, too.”
