U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Anti-Gay Funeral Protesters

[c.d.]

Why would the law require someone to move in people they don't like? I don't get it? Surely if you're renting a room you have the right to choose who you live with? Political correctness will truly be the death of us all.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

It's the law, Tom. Political correctness has nothing to do with it.

c.d.

[YankeeSergeant]

Supreme court

Hi Abby,

What do you mean when you say that the Supreme Court doesn't have the balls? They are appointed for life so it is not like they can be voted out of office and I am sure that they didn't think that this would be a popular decision.

c.d.

They have spoken and they are wrong. These (Explicatives deleted) from the Westboro Baptist church apparently want rights for themselves but no one else.They've been pulling this crap for years and now the Supreme Court says its protected speech? I hope they make the SAME comment if one or more of these flaming (Explicative deleted) gets thunped for disturbing a family in their time of grief. And by the way, they're not only picketting Gay funerals but military funerals as well. They will burn in Hell for their sins.

[Natalie Severn]

I don"t get it at all.Surely people have an inalienable "right" to bury their dead in dignity?

[Abby Normal]

Hi Abby,

What do you mean when you say that the Supreme Court doesn't have the balls? They are appointed for life so it is not like they can be voted out of office and I am sure that they didn't think that this would be a popular decision.

c.d.

As in they took the easy way out.

[Chris]

Why would the law require someone to move in people they don't like? I don't get it? Surely if you're renting a room you have the right to choose who you live with?

The people in question were running a bed-and-breakfast establishment. I don't know what the situation is in the USA, but in the UK in those circumstances it's not legal to refuse customers because they're homosexual any more than it would be to refuse them because they were black.

[mariab]

The people in question were running a bed-and-breakfast establishment. I don't know what the situation is in the USA, but in the UK in those circumstances it's not legal to refuse customers because they're homosexual any more than it would be to refuse them because they were black.

Completely correct. It's untenable for a Hotel or B&B to refuse patrons under any circumstances due to racial/gender issues, also in the US. However, when renting an apartment, a landlord can always use an alleged excuse to refuse a tenant, without being blunt.
For some reason when I hear of enthused picketing Charisma Carpenter's quote from Angel (season 2, episode Eternity) rings in my ears: “They cancelled her show after the 5th season. Morons! I was gonna picket, but was out of flat shoes.“

[c.d.]

As in they took the easy way out.

Hi Abby,

Wouldn't it have been a lot easier and a lot more popular to rule against the church?

c.d.

[Robert]

Hi CD

Re your question a couple of pages ago : I think we've been here before.

In my opinion, in a democracy the people should decide the law - who's allowed to say what, and where. Hopefully the people will have a fairly liberal approach - I don't like censorship any more than you do. But it should not be beyond the wit of lawyers - who god knows are paid enough - to devise a system whereby you are allowed to stand in the street and call for people to eat more beans, and I am allowed to stand in the street and call for all garden gnomes to be eight feet tall, or any other silly things you can think of, but scumbags are prevented from standing at cemetery gates disrupting funerals. If your lawyers can't do that, maybe it's time you hired some from abroad and gave your lawyers a mop and a bucket.

[Natalie Severn]

Well said Robert my friend.Quite right too.

[Robert]

It gives the lawyers a chance to clean up in a quite different way, Nats.

[Chris]

...to devise a system whereby you are allowed to stand in the street and call for people to eat more beans...

Or, indeed, less beans, among other things.

[Tom_Wescott]

It's the law, Tom. Political correctness has nothing to do with it.

How can you say that? Political correctness is what leads to so many laws. You said a woman with a room to let, which is what I was responding to. That woman should not be required to rent her room to the first person who applies if she doesn't feel they'd fit into her household. However, in a hotel/motel environment, that's obviously a completely different thing. Of course no one should be refused.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[c.d.]

Hi CD

Re your question a couple of pages ago : I think we've been here before.

In my opinion, in a democracy the people should decide the law - who's allowed to say what, and where. Hopefully the people will have a fairly liberal approach - I don't like censorship any more than you do. But it should not be beyond the wit of lawyers - who god knows are paid enough - to devise a system whereby you are allowed to stand in the street and call for people to eat more beans, and I am allowed to stand in the street and call for all garden gnomes to be eight feet tall, or any other silly things you can think of, but scumbags are prevented from standing at cemetery gates disrupting funerals. If your lawyers can't do that, maybe it's time you hired some from abroad and gave your lawyers a mop and a bucket.

Hi Robert,

Well we have over 300 million people in this country so that means 300 million views. Although we don't vote for the members of the Supreme Court we do get to vote for president and members of the Senate. The president nominates a candidate for the Supreme Court and the Senate approves or disapproves him or her. So indirectly we are deciding who can say what. We also have a Constitution which gives EVERYONE the right to free speech.

But here is the problem. Who exactly is a scumbag? Is it whites, blacks, Jews, Christians, heterosexuals, homosexuals, vegetarians, people who wear polyester, or people who like game shows? Or is it basically anybody who doesn't have the same views I do? That would give us 300 million different opinions on who is a scumbag and who should be prohibited from voicing their opionion. The founding fathers made it much easier, they gave rights to EVERYONE "scumbags" included however you want to define them.

c.d.

[Robert]

Blimey, Chris, it doesn't leave much to eat.

Tom, this was a guest house or hotel, i.e. the woman wasn't just letting a room in her own home. I don't see why anyone should be telling her who she must have in her hotel. I would make the proviso that if an advert is placed "rooms to let" or some such, it would be misleading if certain people went there only to be told at the last minute they weren't welcome. That's why people should be able to specify in the advert what kind of people are allowed. In the old days some guest houses refused to take stage performers, presumably because they sometimes sneaked off with the cutlery or whatever.

[c.d.]

How can you say that? Political correctness is what leads to so many laws. You said a woman with a room to let, which is what I was responding to. That woman should not be required to rent her room to the first person who applies if she doesn't feel they'd fit into her household. However, in a hotel/motel environment, that's obviously a completely different thing. Of course no one should be refused.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Hi Tom,

What I meant was that the law is the law whether people find it politically correct or not.

c.d.