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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (74496)	9/11/2003 5:52:16 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Thank you for the clarification. I do think that our boy should be able to choose his clients given the scale and nature of his business. That's not an issue for me. As far as I know, there are no laws that say he can't and that's just fine with me. Even if I thought his decisions stemmed from bigotry I wouldn't object. The "conscientious objector status" thing came up earlier today. A conscientious objector is someone who has been given an exemption from some legal requirement due to some ethical or moral belief. I think that should be a pretty rare designation, a moral value that we have a consensus on being of such importance that we should override the law. right now we make exceptions for those who could not bring themselves to kill for any reason in a war. Although there are some who do not support that, it's clear that it's a big-time moral precept. I think such a legal pass requires more than the lack of a compelling state interest. However, were there laws that said our masseur et al couldn't discriminate against gays or women, I do not think that his moral basis is sufficient for giving him and his whole category of co-believers a pass on the legal charge of discrimination, were one filed. Not that anyone would notice or bother to complain, but if it happened. If there's a sufficiently compelling state interest to regulate his type of business regarding discrimination, then he should be obligated to uphold it just like everyone else. In summary, I don't think such businesses should be so regulated. However, if they were, I don't think our sensitive masseur gets a pass.