Walking into a store or restaurant, most people wouldn’t even consider the possibility that they might be denied service. Even those people not wearing a shirt or shoes would move forward with confidence in procuring what they need. This isn’t the case for the LGBTQ+ population across the country. For this community, the reality is that they may live in a state where businesses and organizations are within their rights to deny them service. A 2015 study found that 63% of people who identify as LGBTQ+ have experienced some form of public accommodation discrimination. Most of these cases pass by with little to none media attention. This, however, wasn’t the case in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission complaint.
In 2012, a recently married gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, requested a wedding cake be designed and baked by the Masterpiece Cakeshop where they lived in Colorado. The bakery, owned by Jack Phillips and run as an LLC, refused that service to the couple based on his belief that their marriage was a sin and that it violated his religious beliefs. The bakery did offer to sell the couple an already baked cake but would not design what the couple specifically wanted. The couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC) and the commission determined that the complaint was founded. The case would end up in front of the Supreme Court who, unfortunately, never got to the real issue of the case but focused on the response of the CCRC. In avoiding to address the issue of the discrimination, the Supreme Court inadvertently gave support to this type of behavior.
There are debates happening at every level of government about the right for LGBTQ+ people to be treated equally in businesses and public places. Let that sit there for a minute…not to be given special rights or to offer extra protections but to be treated the same as everyone else. Public accommodation policies typically reference places that people visit outside of their home environment. Those include restaurants, retail stores, specialty shops and gyms but can also include public transportation, state offices like the DMV, and churches and healthcare facilities. The most well-known public accommodation law is the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in public accommodations based on race, color, and national origin. These laws are particularly important for the members of this community who are homeless or food insecure. Discrimination in shelters and social service organizations increase the individuals’ risk significantly by creating an environment in which community members feel unsafe. However, in the US today, men and women are still being discriminated against based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. According to the Movement Advancement Project’s (MAP) LGBT Policy Spotlight: Public Accommodations Nondiscrimination Laws:
Laws protecting people from discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity exist in only 19 states and the District of Columbia. And there are no federal nondiscrimination protections in public accommodations for any of these characteristics. As a result, just over half of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) people in the United States live in a state where businesses could refuse to serve them because of who they are.
Simply put, that means that they can be denied service based on who they love or how they identify in relation to their gender. Transgender people report a significant amount of discrimination; “According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey of nearly 28,000 people, transgender respondents reported being denied equal treatment or service, verbally harassed, or physically attacked at many places of public accommodation.” (MAP, 2018, p. 2)
Interestingly, the majority of Americans support the broadening of discrimination laws. The Civil Rights Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act cover a majority of the population that needs to be protected, and most Americans feel that the LGBTQ+ community should simply be added to those laws already in place. Based on a study done in 2015, 72% of the people polled believed that adding protections for this group was essential while only 23% oppose these types of laws. Similarly, half of Americans polled do not support laws that require that transgender people only use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex they were born with whole 38% favor such laws. (MAP, 2018)
With the patchwork of state laws in place and the lack of a federal non-discrimination law, it is important more now than ever, that the rights of the LGBTQ+ community are forefront and addressed. Local and state lawmakers need to work to shore up current laws and ensure that all vulnerable populations are included. Those states, like Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Indiana, need to move to write and sign into law clear non-discrimination policies that cover all public accommodations. The federal government needs to work to update the protections already in place to include this community. Businesses need to ensure that they are serving everyone in their community and customers need to frequent the businesses that exhibit non-discriminatory practices.
It can be shocking to realize that this type of discrimination is still occurring and is somehow considered to be acceptable. The need for these laws at all, laws that make clear that treating people unfairly is not ok, seems unimaginable. Advocating for these communities, demanding fair treatment from the businesses that people support, voting for laws and politicians who respect these communities are the steps that need to be taken in order to ensure equality and fairness for the LGBTQ+ community.
Movement Advancement Project. January 2018. LGBT Policy Spotlight: Public Accommodations Nondiscrimination Laws. https://www.lgbtmap.org/policy-spotlight-public-accommodations.
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