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The 'Masterpiece Cakeshop' ruling is actually a win for LGBT rights

June 05, 2018
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Brad Polumbo

Young Voices Contributor

On Monday, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the now infamous Masterpiece Cakeshop case. Then all hell broke loose. After the Court ruled that a Christian baker didn't have to provide a customized cake for a same-sex marriage he objected to, Democrats eager to appease the LGBT community quickly voiced their outrage. Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi even called the ruling a violation of "fundamental rights" that "fails to uphold equality."

But I'm gay and pro-gay marriage, and even after this decision, I don't think the sky is falling. If anything this ruling, albeit narrow in scope, is a win for individual freedom and the First Amendment — and in the long run, it will be a victory for the gay community as well.

RELATED: The Supreme Court dodged 'the bigger question' in same-sex wedding cake case

Let's consider the facts of the case. The left tried to portray the Masterpiece case as a fight for gay rights — CNN even ran multiple headlines calling it a "same-sex marriage case" — but this case was never really about gay marriage. It's about whether gay couples can force others to participate in their wedding ceremonies even when it violates their religious beliefs. Jack Phillips is a Christian baker who was punished by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission after he declined to provide a customized wedding cake to a gay couple because he didn't want to provide an implicit endorsement of a same-sex union. This raises a complex First Amendment question: Do business owners have free speech rights?

This case was never really about gay marriage.

The best answer for everyone, including LGBT people, is an emphatic yes. Business owners are people, and they shouldn't be forced to violate their beliefs to accommodate someone else's convenience. The gay couple in this case could have gotten a cake made for their wedding almost anywhere, but decided they wanted to try and force a Christian baker to serve them. At first glance this might seem harmless — or even appealing if you support gay marriage like I do — but it's dangerous. If Phillips can be forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding, why couldn't a gay baker be forced to bake a cake that says "God hates gay people?"

This almost happened. The same Colorado Civil Rights Commission that ruled against Phillips declined to pursue action against a gay baker in a 2014 case where he refused to serve a Christian activist who wanted anti-gay bible verses inscribed on a cake. But religious affiliation is a protected class just like sexual orientation, so before the Masterpiece ruling, the government could have cracked down on the gay baker and forced him to violate his beliefs as well. Other more conservative state regulatory bodies probably would have. So this ruling isn't just a win for Phillips — it's a win for all Americans who want to live a free society where they can't be forced to compromise their conscience.

Tolerance can't be forced.

Tolerance can't be forced. Activists who really want to increase LGBT acceptance need to seriously rethink their approach, because using the court system or government force to push your ideology onto others only fosters more resistance. Attitudes toward gay marriage are already shifting in a positive direction, but the 30 percent of the country still in opposition can't be convinced through coercion. The left insists that this case is about "gay rights," but no one has the right to force their beliefs onto others — and that kind of ideological animosity isn't exactly endearing. It often backfires, and isn't the way to truly promote tolerance or acceptance.

If anything, this decision didn't go far enough. The Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the baker, but it was a narrow ruling in scope, and it didn't hand down any broad declarations protecting free speech or individual conscience rights. The Court focused on the facts of this case, and cited the religious animosity shown by Colorado as an excuse to decline to set a precedent that could be broadly applied to future cases.

A broader pro-liberty decision would have done more to advance individual freedom, and could actually have expanded protections for LGBT Americans as a result. After all, at one time in American history, gay people were persecuted through anti-sodomy laws and even had their children taken away on account of their sexuality.

Surely the gay community can appreciate the necessity of individual freedom and the importance of protecting the First Amendment right to dissent from ideas you disagree with. In the Masterpiece case the Court narrowly protected this right — and in doing so, protected the same LGBT community it appeared to rule against.

Brad Polumbo is a writer for Young Voices. His work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Federalist, Fox News and National Review.

Recent attacks on Trump prove how DESPERATE the Left really is

ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Contributor | Getty Images

Just in the last few weeks, Donald Trump's campaign has hit new heights. As the election draws near, the Trump campaign has had back-to-back successes and the energy is palpable.

Just to add fuel to the Democrats' fire, the polls are leaning in Trump's favor. Naturally, the Democrats are frantically playing damage control in an attempt to slow Trump's momentum, but they are scraping the bottom of the barrel of insults to throw at him. If you weren't convinced by the mainstream media's talking heads calling Trump a racist for the past eight years, it seems unlikely that you will suddenly become convinced now. The Left's final volley of insults against Trump and his supporters reveals just how bleak Kamala Harris's situation really is.

Calling Trump Hitler

CHANDAN KHANNA / Contributor | Getty Images

The mainstream media has been calling Donald Trump "Hitler" for nearly a decade now, and the American people are over it. Yet, just last week, Harris compared Trump to Hitler during her speech from the vice presidential mansion. She also called Trump a fascist outright during her ill-fated CNN town hall, but like the rest of the event, the insult fell flat. This is the same old, tired rhetoric, and it simply doesn't carry any weight anymore. If Trump was going to be a dictator, wouldn't he have done it during his first term?

MSNBC's Propaganda

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

If the Vice President spewing dangerous rhetoric against a former president who has already had multiple assassination attempts made against him wasn't enough, MSNBC had to have a go. On Sunday, October 27th, Trump held a momentous rally in the famous Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the venue was overflowing with support for the former president. Instead of actually covering the event, MSNBC, in a shameful act of fear-mongering, compared the Trump rally to a pro-Nazi rally that was held in the same venue back in 1939. MSNBC played footage of the Trump rally alongside footage of the Nazi rally from 85 years ago, which many critics have called "inciting," given the history of political violence already present in this election.

Calling Trump Racist

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

The very same Madison Square Garden rally caused another media outrage when famous "roast" comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a scathing joke about Puerto Rico. While the joke was certainly offensive (as Glenn explained, that's the whole point of a "roast") and perhaps it was not the best of all choices to feature a joke that targeted a potentially crucial voter demographic, at the end of the day it was simply a joke. But the Left has long since abandoned the concepts of "fun" and "humor," and began the tired old cry of "Trump is a racist!" anew. However, calling Trump a racist has the same effect of calling him Hitler: no one but the bluest of the Democrats buys into that rhetoric.

Top FIVE takeaways from Trump's LEGENDARY Joe Rogan podcast

SYFY / Contributor, The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

President Donald Trump sat down for a three-hour podcast with famous podcaster Joe Rogan for what was likely the longest interview of a presidential nominee in American political history.

The interview, which first aired Friday, October 25th, has amassed over 38 million views at the time of writing, making it one of the top-performing podcasts Rogan has ever done. Naturally, the mainstream media tried desperately to spin this interview against Trump by "fact-checking" claims he made about the 2020 election, cherry-picking individual sentences from the three-hour-long interview just to repeat them out of context. They've even gone so far as to tell people not to watch the podcast.

This is all just a coping strategy, as anyone who has seen the interview would tell you, Trump absolutely crushed it! He was sharp, witty, funny, intelligent, strong, positive, and perhaps most importantly, he had actual policy solutions to America's problems. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, here are the top five takeaways from the must-watch podcast:

Tariffs and Federal Income Tax

Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

Trump repeated a statement he had made at a rally earlier in the week, suggesting that he's considering repealing the Federal Income Tax. He suggested an alternate means of deriving income for our government tariffs. Trump praised the late 19th century, President William McKinley, for his use of tariffs to increase the wealth of the United States before income tax was introduced. Trump said that he wants to use tariffs to tax other countries for stealing American jobs, which would simultaneously protect American industry and lighten the burden of American taxpayers; two birds, one stone.

RFK Jr. and MAHA

Rebecca Noble / Stringer | Getty Images

Joe Rogan discussed RFK Jr. and his mission to Make America Healthy Again. He mentioned a startling statistic he had heard from RFK Jr.: that over 70 percent of young American men are not physically fit enough to serve in the military. Trump corroborated this claim with a graph he had brought that revealed the U.S. spends significantly more than most other countries on health care per capita yet has significantly lower life expectancy. This discrepancy is perpetuated by Big Pharma, which profits off our illness. Trump even claimed that he was warned against partnering with RFK Jr. lest he would anger people within the industry. President Trump assured Rogan that he is completely committed to working with RFK Jr. to make America healthy again.

The JFK Files

Bettmann / Contributor | Getty Images

In an especially thrilling moment of the interview, Trump claimed to have read a portion of the JFK files and decided to re-seal it after seeing what he read and consulting with trusted advisors. He claimed that well-intentioned, good people asked him not to open the files just yet, and after reading about half the files, he understood why. While he was reluctant to go into more detail, he claimed that there were people who were involved with the JFK assassination and the following investigation who are still alive, and whose names and addresses were in the files. But according to Trump, enough time had passed, and he was adamant that he would unseal the JFK files soon after taking office.

The Biggest Mistake in His First Term

Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Images

President Trump discussed what he saw as the biggest mistake he made during his first term. He admited that he was still very new at politics when he was elected into the White House and relied on the advice of the swamp creatures he swore to destroy when building his cabinet. Trump admitted that he made several bad picks, which caused him problems throughout his first term, but he said he is determined to learn from his mistakes, and he's working on assembling a dream team for 2025.

Doubling Down on 2020 Election Fraud

Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Images

Despite efforts by the mainstream media to "debunk" election fraud claims, Trump continued to assert that there was interference in the 2020 election. Trump pointed out the Hunter Biden laptop story, which was actively suppressed and denied by the media leading up to the election, despite being true. On top of this, Trump and Rogan discussed the opportunity for cheating and interference offered by Covid with the vast increase in the use of mail-in ballots. Considering how small of a margin Biden won by, Trump argued that between Covid and the fake news media, the notion that the scales were tipped in Biden's favor is not that far-fetched.

Kamala Harris dropped the ball at CNN's town hall

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Contributor | Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris held a town hall on CNN Wednesday night, asking voters questions about the swing state of Pennslyvania. It was a train wreck.

Harris could not give a single straight answer to any question, and would instead lapse into long, word-salad answers. At times even Anderson Cooper, who was hosting the event, seemed fed up with her answers and tried to steer her back on track. There were even a few times that felt like Cooper was practically spoon-feeding the answer to Harris, who still managed to drop the ball.

This town hall was a flop at a time when the polls revealed Harris really couldn't afford it.

She talked more about Trump than herself.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Throughout her campaign and the CNN town hall, Harris repeatedly promised that her administration would break away from the "hate" and "divisiveness" that supposedly characterize President Trump and his campaign. But despite these promises, it seemed like Harris's answer to every question was to bash Trump. From questions about how she would support or not support Israel to questions about potential Supreme Court reforms, the answer was the same: Orange Man Bad.

Even the CNN after-show panel complained that she spent far too much time talking about Trump. Her performance lacked substance and proved that her campaign isnot about anything she has to offer the American people, it's solely about hating Donald Trump.

She missed the opportunity to further define herself.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Contributor | Getty Images

Harris spent so much time Trump-bashing that she never got into any detail about her policies. This was an event designed to give her the chance to lay out her platform and define who she is as a candidate and she utterly failed to do so. As mentioned before, all she really spoke about was Trump, a candidate who almost every voter is highly familiar with. This was a critical failure on Harris's part, she missed possibly one of, if not the last chance to make an impression on voters before the election and according to recent polls, this was a chance she could not afford to miss.

She gave several radical and dangerous remarks.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / Contributor | Getty Images

The few times Harris managed to reveal some of her policy ideas it became clear why she was being so coy: they are blatantly dangerous. In between her anti-Trump tirades where she makes Trump out to be the biggest threat to the Constitution the country has ever seen, Harris let slip that she is open to Supreme Court reforms, including adding more Justices to the bench. This is known as court-packing and is most certainly unconstitutional, as well as one of the hallmarks of an authoritarian takeover, as Glenn has pointed out.

Harris also spent the first several minutes of the event making dangerous accusations against Trump, calling him a fascist and comparing him to Adolf Hitler. She would echo this sentiment the following day in a surprise address. Glenn explained on his radio show just how dangerous and inciteful this kind of language is and the kind of damage it can do. This looks like a desperate, last-ditch attempt to sway people away from Trump during this critical time of the election cycle.

Meet Trump's dream team who will make America healthy again

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Americans are sick of being sick. In a recent TV special, Glenn revealed one in three Americans suffer from a chronic disease, and it's only getting worse.

But there is hope! President Trump has taken notice of our dysfunctional and corrupt system and has assembled a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) dream team who plan on making big changes once Trump gets back into office. This team plans on fighting back against federal regulatory agencies such as the FDA, which are bought out by Big Pharma and Big Food and allow toxic ingredients that most other countries have banned into our food.

So who is this dream team? Below, we've compiled a list of the most prominent figures who are working with Trump to make America healthy again:

RFK Jr.

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

Former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the declining health of Americans a focal point in his campaign. After dropping out of the race, he combined forces with President Trump, promising to assist Trump in reinventing federal health agencies, such as the FDA and CDC, to purge them of corruption, and to reduce the dominance of ultra-processed foods full of toxic additives. RFK Jr. has adopted the slogan Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) in reference to Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) slogan.

Casey and Calley Means

Over this last month, Dr. Casey Means and her entrepreneur brother Calley have taken the Conservative sphere by storm after testifying in front of the U.S. Senate. The siblings have been making the circuit, speaking alongside Jorden Peterson, appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast, getting a shoutout by RFK Jr., and even joining Glenn on his most recent TV special. Casey and Calley are trying to expose the corruption in the upper levels of industry and federal agencies and fight back against what Dr. Casey describes as a "genocidal health collapse."

Dr. Robert Redfield

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

Former CDC Director Dr. Redfield has recently rejoined Trump's Make America Healthy Again team. His experience as the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control means he is familiar with the corruption that rots our federal agencies and has good reason to believe that the Trump administration can turn things around. Dr. Redfield has shown concern for the alarming rate of chronic disease that plagues Americans. He expressed special concern for children, given that over 40 percentof American children suffer from at least one chronic condition.