Americans enjoy the freedom to associate with, or not, whomever they wish. In today’s Wedding Cake War, conservatives are floundering on the battlefield of religious liberty. As someone who has always supported gay marriage, I disagree with conservatives who would limit marriage licenses to opposite-sex couples.
As a public good, government should treat gay and straight couples equally. Government bakeries, if any exist, must bake wedding cakes for anyone who asks, but the private sector is another matter.
Private gay weddings should mirror straight ones. They should be joyous occasions in which everyone involved willingly participates, and no one is dragged into attending or contributing.
Whether conservatives like it or not, religious liberty claims increasingly enter deaf, if not hostile, ears — many of which trigger very loud mouths.
Traditional-marriage advocates include religious people who strongly believe gay weddings and marriages violate their Christian, Jewish, or Muslim faiths. There are now approximately 56-million religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S., up from 37-million in 2007 according to Pew Research.
An atheist baker who prefers not to associate with Bible-waving Baptists should be free to refer them elsewhere, just as a Christian, Jewish, and Muslim bakers should be free to invite gay couples to order their cakes from bakers who welcome their business.
Likewise, a baker who also runs a chapter of the Climate Action Network should not be forced to make a cake honoring Exxon’s Oil Man of the Year. If bakers must spend hours and hours creating cakes unwillingly, this could be called involuntary servitude to some.
The First Amendment Freedom of Speech clause should be another battlefield. Additionally, conservatives need to resist on other fronts as well. The First Amendment freedom is worth defending to them but it clearly is not enough. Unfortunately for such people, America is becoming an increasingly secular nation.
While this remains a central and legitimate combat zone, the Right should fight on at least three other constitutional grounds: freedom of association, freedom of speech. and involuntary servitude – otherwise known as slavery.
Is this picking cotton in the blazing sun while being whipped? No. Is this exerting one’s labor against one’s wishes? Yes.
Denying a woman the right to choose whether or not to take pictures at a wedding constitutes art at gunpoint. Just ask Elaine Huguenin, whom New Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled must photograph a lesbian wedding (The US Supreme Court spurned her appeal). What could be more un-American than that?
Rather than sue solely for religious liberty, conservatives and libertarians should rail against coerced speech and compulsory expression.
Ironically, Christians are losing the Wedding Cake War because they are too Christian. Rather than forgive, they need to fight against President Obama, Democrats, the LGBT community, and any others who wish to make them choke down the cake of equality.
Maybe they should consider a popular slogan many believers use: “What Would Jesus Do?”
