We also have the 1st amendment. Right to freedom of religion and speech.
Both are under assault by liberals. Liberals on college campuses want to ban any "unfriendly" speech.
Libs in Britain want to ban Trump for his speech. Do they not realize these are the same steps taken in Orwell's 1984?
What if the powers that be decide all criticism of Obama is hate speech? And start sending people to jail? Very slippery slope.
Also there is no right to sexual orientation in the constitution. The SCOTUS simply said they can get married. So we are going to force places to serve their weddings and take photos of them if they don't wish to, for religious reasons? That doesn't sound draconian?
You are absolutely right. The 1st Amendment is one of the guarantees of the Constitution.
One can, provided they're not getting into the area of inciting to riot/treason/war/etc. say quite a bit, and I'm personally not in favor of changing that. There is a reason that we have freedom of speech as a protected right.
But that doesn't change the simple fact that our Constitution guarantees freedom from discrimination, persecution and inequality; and that being FOR discrimination, persecution and inequality makes one an unpatriotic hater of America; which one is allowed to be.
As to those in England who want to ban Trump, that's their issue which does, in fact, go up against their own Constitution.
Frankly, I think Trump should be banned for being a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot, but he has the right to be that sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot, so I couldn't ban him if I wanted to.
The idea that the "powers that be" would decide that criticism of a sitting President is hate speech is patently absurd in that it simply could not happen under the Constitution. It's not even on a slope.
You're right, there's no protection for "sexual orientation" in the Constitution. Which, if you look at what I said again, has nothing to do with the fact that there IS a right to equal protection under the law - which is what the Supreme Court upheld.
That said, there IS an "unalienable human right" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," in the Declaration of Independence. I think sexual orientation would definitely fall into that category.
The Supreme Court's ruling (and we're getting off-topic, here, I realize) doesn't obligate clergy to marry people they don't want to (which allows various churches to remain bigoted institutions while not paying taxes).
Marriage is a civil institution that does not require religious approval. No church or member of the clergy has been forced to perform a same-sex wedding, and none ever will. That's where the Constitution comes into play.
Whether or not someone is forced to engage in business as a photographer, baker or other such issue is a question for the Court, and I'm sure that'll be coming along soon enough.
But the funny thing about the "the court wants to force me to bake a cake for gays" thing (since in this country it's Christians who are so vehemently vocal in their bigotry) is that Jesus would, in fact, have baked the damned cake.
But Christians these days are more interested in only the parts of the bible they like, and not the whole thing.
Which immediately brings into question just how faithful they are. The bible is a done deal. You follow all of it if you truly have religious convictions.
If not, you're just using the bible to be an asshole.
Which (to get back on topic) kind of sounds like ISIS doesn't it? Perverting religious texts so you can justify being complete assholes to others?
Funny how similar some things can be, isn't it? But then, religious zealotry comes in many forms.
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