← Back to context

Comment by bqe

9 years ago

If you think Nazism, a racist, hateful ideology opposed to the existence of many groups of people, is equivalent to being black in America, we have nothing to discuss.

To add to this, race is a protected class [1]. We carefully and conservatively enumerate the classes a business holding itself out to the public may not discriminate based on. Political ideology is not a protected class almost anywhere in America.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class

  • Of course, but you're ignoring that protected class status is usually granted when discrimination be so pervasive that it is a burden its recipients.

    If it becomes commonplace to discriminate against people based on their political ideology then we may very well see the 'political party' protection broadened.

    • There are two discussions encapsulated in your comment. One, should political ideology be a protected class? And two, if so, how would you delineate protected "political ideology," something inherently more difficult to observe than ethnicity or sex, from unprotected views?

      1 reply →

I don't. I'm trying to explain that there are limits to 'private businesses can choose not to do businesses with anyone' with a historical example.

In small doses businesses can refuse service to classes of people, but when the discrimination is so commonplace that it becomes a burden to those being discriminated against then you may see the creation of a new protected class (or realistically the broadening of an existing one) to make sure they aren't starved or unable to find employment.