LogFAQs > #888530584

Zeus posted...

If a need isn't being met, businesses will either spring up to meet it or other businesses -- recognizing that they can get a large amount of profit -- will step in.

There's a large amount of profit from being the only bakery in town that will bake cakes for 10% of its population's weddings? In a city with a million people, maybe, but a town of 5000? Good luck with that. Good luck with that even if you're talking about a more everyday service. And that's even without getting into the fact that homosexuality's incidence is probably going to be less than the usual 10% in such a small town (both because smaller towns tend to be more homophobic to start with and because only having ~24 potential romantic partners to pick from isn't exactly conducive to settling down there).

Remember that the total number of businesses in America isn't relevant here. America's a big place, so of course there'll be a huge number of businesses. America's communities, however, are not necessarily big places, and it's communities that people exist in. The fact that there are 146 (not a real number) bakeries that will serve gay people in Manhattan means nothing to a gay couple in Jasper, AK, and as soon as you start discriminating such that gay people (or black people, or Muslims, or anyone that doesn't look Aryan) have to drive 2-3 communities over to get what they want, you are creating a disadvantaged class with that discrimination, and that's no bueno.

Zeus posted...

In general, I could understand an argument mandating *essential* services, but most essential services -- hospitals, utilities, etc -- are covered by the government anyway which can't discriminate. Likewise, major chains cover the majority of needs in this country so the most important areas are already covered.

Major chains are also businesses, and you started this line of reasoning with "Any business owner." No cherry-picking now. Additionally, most essential services aren't covered by the government in the US. Hospitals are treated as private businesses. Utilities are private businesses. Real estate (including renting) is a private business. Grocery stores are private businesses. Drug stores are private businesses. And in smaller communities, many of those services aren't going to have more than one option available, because there simply isn't enough business to support more than one.

Zeus posted...

Otherwise, the idea that nobody should be "deprived of anything" is fundamentally an issue of entitlement. As it stands, countless people of "deprived of things" due to a myriad of factors including income, availability, etc. So, unless you pass a law mandating that things should be free and businesses have to open in certain areas, there will always be some "deprivation"

There will, and that's a problem, but that's due to factors beyond anyone's easy control. You can't sell a product to people that can't afford it without yourself being unable to afford staying in business. Depriving people of a service due to voluntary discrimination, however, is very easy to fix: Just stop discriminating against them. This is entirely a voluntary decision on the part of the business owner.

Zeus posted...

Why not ask whether it's really so hard not to be an a****** who forces a business to do something against their will instead of walking around the corner and buying somewhere else?

Because it's easier to stop being a bigoted asshole than it is to walk around the corner. Even in cases where there actually is something around the corner (which, as we've established already, is only really true in larger communities). Just don't. It's really that simple.
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