Restaurants Could Get In Serious Legal Trouble if They Discriminate Against Trump Admin
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Owners of D.C. establishments that were inspired by what happened to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday may want to be careful before taking similar action against her or other members of the Trump administration. Sanders was kicked out of a restaurant in Virginia, not because of anything she said or did at the eatery, but apparently because of her role in the Trump White House. The owner beckoned her from her table, and asked her to leave because she is part of an “inhumane and unethical” administration.
This sort of thing isn’t just a sign of ever-increasing hostility in the political sphere, it could be illegal, depending on where it is.
David Cole , National Legal Director of the ACLU, told Law&Crime that public accommodations laws prohibit businesses that are open to the public from discriminating against people based on certain characteristics.
“Public accommodations laws vary from state to state (and city to city), but they generally bar businesses open to the public from refusing service to individuals based on certain protected characteristics,” Cole said, noting that they each decide which characteristics qualify.
“All protect against race discrimination, most protect against sex discrimination, some protect against sexual orientation discrimination, etc.”
So what about political leanings? As it turns out, “only three jurisdictions protect against discriminatory refusals of service based on political affiliation or opinion,” Cole said, but one of them is Washington, D.C. (The others are Seattle and the Virgin Islands.)
The Red Hen, the restaurant that booted Sanders, is in Virginia, but if any establishments in D.C. take a cue from them, they could be held in violation of D.C. Code Section 2-1402.31 , which bars discriminatory actions against people in whole or in part due to characteristics including race, religion, nationality, sex, age, and more, including political affiliation. Violations can result in punishments including court-ordered corrective action or monetary penalties.
The issue of public accommodations laws recently–and famously–came up in the Masterpiece Cake Shop case, where a baker was held in violating Colorado’s public accommodations law for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding. The case drew national attention, as it pitted interests of gay rights against religious freedom, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the baker because a state commission showed hostility towards his beliefs and didn’t give him a fair hearing.
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It's pathetic that this country would even need a prohibition against discriminating against people on the basis of their perceived political leanings, but here we are were.
I know, right? It was much better when the only discrimination was against blacks, gays and Jews.
Those were the "gays".
I would have used the proper slurs for all those groups but I don't need to rack up more points.....
(a) General. — It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice to do any of the following acts, wholly or partially for a discriminatory reason based on the actual or perceived: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, or place of residence or business of any individual:
If a bakery can discriminate again gay wedding cakes, this restaurant has the same right to refuse service.
If the restaurant can prove serving Sanders prohibits their 1st Amendment rights, then have at it.
He can't. He won that one because the hate filled Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed animus towards his religious beliefs. It had little to do with the wedding cake. In this case we see the same hostility on the part of the restaurant owner based on differences in beliefs.
And that was not all:
"Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee alleged Monday that the restaurant owner who refused service to his daughter, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders , actually ended up following Mrs. Sanders ‘ family to another restaurant and causing a “scene.”
Mr. Huckabee told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Monday that Stephanie Wilkinson , owner of the Red Hen in Lexington , Virginia, kicked Mrs. Sanders and her family out of the restaurant and then proceeded to yell at them when they tried to go to a different restaurant across the street.
“There’s a part of that story that hasn’t been told, you’re going to be the first to hear it,” Mr. Huckabee said, Mediaite first reported . “Once Sarah and her family left, of course Sarah was asked to please vacate, Sarah and her husband just went home. They had sort of had enough. But the rest of her family went across the street to a different restaurant.
“The owner of the Red Hen — nobody’s told this — then followed them across the street, called people, and organized a protest yelling and screaming at them from outside the other restaurant and creating this scene,” he said"
So before you try and link the unbridled hate and uncivil behavior of progressives with anything else (which is irrelevant), you should at least have your facts straight.
Sounds like both Sarah and her dad are rather whiny bigots.
Sarah merely used FEDERAL resources to whine about it.
The same Mike Huckabee who cheered on serial adulterer Kim Davis in her illegal discrimination against gays?
That Mike Huckabee?
Yeah, I'm sure his take on the whole thing is worth a damn.
That's because like her Father, she is a Trump butt kisser, thus, she is special and does not have to abide by any rules or laws like Trump.
And, we should believe Mr. Huckabee is telling the truth because...……..?
Did the other media whores ask about the FEDERAL resources which Sarah used the night before to whine about getting kicked out of a restaurant because she's the propaganda minister who makes excuses for bigoted and inhumane policies?
I haven't heard any denials from Stephanie Wilkinson, have you?
He raised Sarah, she learned how to lie from someone and, I doubt it was Trump.
I'd rather believe her than anyone in the Trump administration or, related to the Trump administration personnel, even if the whole Trump administration was standing on a stack of Bibles.
I can tell
Maybe he should work for Maxine Waters. If what you say were true it would be totally irrelevant.
If they break the law, they should get in trouble no matter who they discriminate against. Duh. Oh wait!!! If a Christian does it to a gay person, that's ok....anyone else though...no.
Love the article just dripping with hypocrisy..LOL
You have posted this pic several times. The obsession with it is disconcerting.
You think he has a thing for Mrs Sanders?
We can see how bad it has become when even Chuck Schumer has to call out Mad Maxine Waters:
I think she should be censured
I think he must get turned on by it!
Not enough flour in the world....
No Norman, it's called, "non-PC", which you trump supporters love, so DEAL WITH IT!
(Off topic per seeder) Telo
Whatever that means