Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Marie Antionette’s, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” has been woven into the fabric of an American case in today’s age concerning gay rights and freedom of speech. The cost of regulating free speech is quantified by the emotional, political and economic costs overall. These aspects are weighed against the cost of allowing the speech to flourish. Freedom of speech is a value, not a principle and it is getting harder and harder for the courts to assess it in a political climate in which America remains divided.
In Colorado, a gay couple was denied the right to have a wedding cake made by a baker who seemed to have questioned their religious beliefs by having signed up in the store saying: “We do not bake cakes for gay weddings.”
Many would agree that the idea of freedom of speech is not permitted to say anything anybody thinks outright. It means balancing values of a given view to ensure that other members of a given community can participate in discourse on an equal footing. It includes someone’s humanity and their right to participate in political speech as long as it is not attacked, demeaned or questioned. People should not be shut down due to individual expression. In this instance, many would believe that a right to have equal access to a baker includes freedom of speech or practice.
Colorado civil rights commission found the refusal to bake a cake for the gay couple in violation of its state anti-discrimination law. In the high court, the bakery argued that the lower courts’ findings violate its rights to both religious freedom and free speech. That ruling had the ability to divide people further as some view it as not being an act of free speech but rather one of service and giving rise to an ability to boycott. For such a reason the matter is now going before the Supreme Court and a decision to be made next year in June. Continue reading ›