system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: A business owner, specifically an artisan, should not be forced to do business with anyone they don't want to do business with.

I am a Democrat. I believe strongly in equality. In light of the Supreme Court case in Colorado concerning a baker who said he would bake a cake for a homosexual couple, but not decorate it, I've found myself in conflict with my political and moral beliefs. 

On one hand, homophobia sucks. Seriously. You're just hurting your own business to support a belief that really is against everything that Jesus taught anyway. Discrimination is illegal, and for good reason. 

On the other hand, baking a cake is absolutely a form of artistic expression. That is not a reach at all. As such, to force that expression is simply unconstitutional. There is no getting around that. If the baker wants to send business elsewhere, it's his or her loss but ultimately his or her right in my eyes and in the eyes of the U.S. constitution. 

I want to side against the baker, but I can't think how he's not protected here. 

EDIT: The case discussed here involves the decoration of the cake, not the baking of it. The argument still stands in light of this. 
EDIT 1.2: Apparently this isn't the case. I've been misinformed. The baker would not bake a cake at all for this couple. Shame. Shame. Shame.

EDIT2: I'm signing off the discussion for the night. Thank you all for contributing! In summary, homophobics suck. At the same time, one must be intellectually honest; when saying that the baker should have his hand forced to make a gay wedding cake or close his business, then he should also have his hand forced when asked to make a nazi cake. There is SCOTUS precedent to side with the couple in this case. At some point, when exercising your own rights impedes on the exercise of another's rights, compromise must be made and, occasionally, enforced by law. There is a definite gray area concerning the couples "right" to the baker's service. But I feel better about condemning the baker after carefully considering all views expressed here. Thanks for making this a success!
gpt
The question is not about the bakers' free speech, it is about the business. 

The individual can do whatever he damn well pleases. Refuse to bake the cake, be racist, be homophobic, whatever. 

The moment that individual chooses to form a business and benefit from the laws like limited liability, separate taxation, etc., then the business must also be subject to the laws about non-discrimination. 

We as a country have decided that people should not be discriminated against for their immutable characteristics (age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation - in some states) by businesses. 

People don't choose to be gay, they do choose to be a Nazi or to not wear a shirt. A business can choose not to do business with someone they disagree with politically, or who isn't wearing clothes. They can't because that person is white/black/purple/old/young/female/male etc. 

Individuals can still hate those people, that is their constitutional right. 

But businesses must treat them equally. The business benefits because laws exist, they should also be subject to those laws so that people are to be treated equally.