Leave Your Morals at Home & Do Your Job

[lvstephanie]

I heard that Joe Walsh, member of the Eagles, cancelled a planned concert in Ohio this summer. He has decided that he will purposely discriminate against potential concert goers -- his customers -- because their morals conflict with his own. "I cannot in good conscience endorse the Republican party in any way." So according to the Left, it is perfectly fine to discriminate against a person that doesn't espouse the same Leftist values, but have a baker refuse to make a gay wedding cake by saying "I cannot in good conscience endorse the LGBT community in any way" and travel advisories will be issues against even traveling to that state.   

[paints]

 "It was my understanding that I was playing a concert which was a non partisan event to benefit the families of American veterans on Monday, July 18 in Cleveland. The admat I approved said this specifically. Today it was announced that this event is, in fact, a launch for the Republican National Convention. In addition, my name is to be used to raise sponsorship dollars for convention-related purposes. Therefore, I must humbly withdraw my participation in this event with apologies to any fans or veterans and their families that I might disappoint.
 
I am very concerned about the rampant vitriol, fear-mongering and bullying coming from the current Republican campaigns.  It is both isolationist and spiteful. I cannot in good conscience endorse the Republican party in any way. I will look at doing a veteran related benefit concert later this year."
 
 -- Joe Walsh

[lvstephanie]

I see.... So a baker can only say that they, in good conscience, that they will not bake a gay wedding cake and thereby endorse the LGBT community as long as they were originally just commissioned for a wedding cake and later found out that it was for a gay wedding. Thus contract law trumps civil rights.

[paints]

They misrepresented the gig to him in the first place.  Once you lie, you don't get to hold onto the moral high ground.
It's an apples to oranges argument, conflating the baker with the musician.
The baker is open to the public, so he should serve the public. 

The musician is an independent contractor, so he has the option of making music for whomever he pleases.

As far as Joe Walsh reneging on a contract, if the contract misrepresents the terms, it's null and void on its face.

[lvstephanie]

So then it IS fine to say you won't bake the gay wedding cake if the baker was originally commissioned to bake just a "wedding cake". "Once you lie, you don't get to hold onto the moral high ground," after all.

And I don't see the distinction of a musician refusing to work vs. a baker... Yes, the bakery is open to the public, but so too was the concert. Furthermore, I'd argue that if a musician has the option of making music for whomever he pleases, so too should the baker be able to bake for whomever he pleases. In my hypothetical, I didn't say that the baker refused a gay person admittance into his establishment, nor that the baker refused any type of service to the gay individual. Rather I said that the baker was refusing a contracted commission; thus I'd think the baker was acting more like an independent contractor, much like the musician that was commissioned for a specific event.

[paints]

But the baker is not an independent contractor.  His business is licensed by the state,  to serve the public.
If he doesn't want to do that, then he can become an independent contractor and pick and choose his clientele.
And there is no such thing as a "gay wedding cake."  It's just a wedding cake.

[JediJohnnie]

Whoa Whoa Whoa. A baker has the same rights to refuse customers as anybody. Most places go so far to have a sign saying as much.

[hitch0403]

If Walsh was told the truth from the start this wouldnt have happened!

The baker said gays could eat in his shop...right?He had the right to feel baking a wedding cake for a gay wedding was a celebration God didn t approve of!!

Pretty simple!!

[DwanaMR]

Joe Walsh is a typical self-righteous, left-wing hypocrite.  He can't endorse the Republican party in good conscience?  Hmmmmm.  Does he think all of Eagle's fans, the people who buy his band's records and tickets to his band's concerts, are Democrats?  Before each Eagle's concert, does Joe Walsh require bouncers to ascertain the political beliefs of each ticket holder and to deny entrance to non-Democrats?  Of course not!  Walsh--and his band--gladly accept money and applause from Republican fans, even as he attacks their political party and, by extension, them.  I hate you...but I want your money.  Like I said, typical left-wing hypocrite.

[DwanaMR]

Joe Walsh is a typical self-righteous, left-wing hypocrite.  He can't endorse the Republican party in good conscience?  Hmmmmm.  Does he think all of Eagle's fans, the people who buy his band's records and tickets to his band's concerts, are Democrats?  Before each Eagle's concert, does Joe Walsh require bouncers to ascertain the political beliefs of each ticket holder and to deny entrance to non-Democrats?  Of course not!  Walsh--and his band--gladly accept money and applause from Republican fans, even as he attacks their political party and, by extension, them.  I hate you...but I want your money.  Like I said, typical left-wing hypocrite.

Sorry, I should've prefaced my initial statement with, "If Joe Walsh really said..."

[DwanaMR]

We need to understand that leftists, like Joe Walsh appears to be, define any disagreement with their beliefs or p.o.v as hate, bigotry, intolerance, etc.  The one thing they absolutely cannot stand is opposition.  They are the real bullies and bigots.  Snarling invectives at opponents is leftists' way of bullying them into silence.  We can see this most graphically on the nation's university and college campuses, but it's happening in all segments of society.  Standing up to the Left is imperative to preserving free and open debate and a free and open society.  I will not be silenced.

[DwanaMR]

If you're running a for-profit business you must serve everyone. 

Sounds like a good idea.  The problem is that (most) gays have no intention of applying that rule to themselves.  The "sting operations" of several people--most notably Christian firebrand Theodore Shoebat in Dec. 2014--proves that.  When gay bakers were asked to bake cakes with messages opposing gay marriage, they angrily refused, even though they were running for-profit businesses.  One manager contacted by Theodore Shoebat fumed, "Why should I bake a cake for a cause I don't believe in?"  BINGO!  That's the real issue, freedom of conscience.  The right not to be forced to support or participate in that which you don't believe in.  Gays wholeheartedly claim this right for themselves, as seen by their refusal to bake anti-SSM cakes, while demanding it be denied to traditional Americans.

There's a MONUMENTAL difference between refusing to serve a person, and refusing to support/participate in a cause or a ceremony.   The former is discrimination; the latter is freedom of conscience.  The problem is that freedom of conscience interferes with LGBT activists' goal of mandatory, universal affirmation of homosexuality.  Non-affirmation, not discrimination, is the real crime of Christian businesses that opt out of gay weddings.  There must be no freedom to opt out of supporting homosexuality.  That's the world the Left, especially the gay Left, is working for.  I will not comply.

[paints]

Joe Walsh is a typical self-righteous, left-wing hypocrite.  He can't endorse the Republican party in good conscience?  Hmmmmm.  Does he think all of Eagle's fans, the people who buy his band's records and tickets to his band's concerts, are Democrats?  Before each Eagle's concert, does Joe Walsh require bouncers to ascertain the political beliefs of each ticket holder and to deny entrance to non-Democrats?  Of course not!  Walsh--and his band--gladly accept money and applause from Republican fans, even as he attacks their political party and, by extension, them.  I hate you...but I want your money.  Like I said, typical left-wing hypocrite.

Sorry, I should've prefaced my initial statement with, "If Joe Walsh really said..."

His statement is directly from his website. http://joewalsh.com/news/273543

[nannycoe1]

All this LGBT stuff is being blown way out of proportion. 

[DwanaMR]

All this LGBT stuff is being blown way out of proportion.

You're right, nannycoe.  Any refusal to affirm homosexuality is being blown way out of proportion.