A conservative law firm recently sent an interviewer to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to speak with students about their views on business owners’ freedom to opt out of providing services based on their worldview — and the results were fascinating.
The interviewer started out by asking a number of people whether fashion designers should have the right to refuse to work with First Lady Melania Trump, as some have opted to do, to which they answered affirmatively.
“I guess that’s that company’s choice,” one respondent said. “I mean, it’s a free market.”
From there, the conversation turned to the rights of a Muslim singer to refuse performing at a Christian church.
“So, let’s say you were a Muslim singer here in Madison and a church approached you for an Easter service for you to sing, do you have the right to opt out of that?” the interviewer asked, with responses ranging from “I guess so” to definitive “yeses.”
But the interview subjects changed their tune — or at the least seemed stumped — when the scenario turned to a Christian photographer who did not wish to participate in a gay wedding.
“So, let’s say you’re a Christian photographer here in Madison and someone approached you to do a same-sex wedding, would that be hateful or discriminatory to opt out of that?” the interviewer asked, sparking silence, confusion and uncertainty.
Some even changed their tune from previous responses and said that this would, in fact, be unacceptable, though they seemed to struggle to reconcile that perspective with their previous comments about fashion designers and Muslim singers.
Watch it all unfold below:
In the end, the Alliance Defending Freedom — which is actively engaged in court battles that would allow Christian wedding venders, among others, to opt out of same-sex ceremonies — attempted to highlight what it saw as curious logic among respondents.
“Everyone agreed that a creative professional should have the foundational freedom to decline work that conflicts with their conscience or beliefs, but, when faced with a situation that goes against current cultural expectations, like a Christian photographer declining to promote a same-sex wedding, the gears start grinding,” the interviewer proclaimed. “If a law that forces someone to promote something against their beliefs is so laughable, so unimaginable … then why is it so difficult to extend the same freedom to a Christian creative professional?”
As Faithwire previously reported, the ongoing battle over same-sex nuptials involves a debate over First Amendment rights versus the equal protection measures enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment. Read more about that here.
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