Metro CANDO
Wednesday 18 May 2011 - Filed under Uncategorized
The Rev. Steven S. Nelson seems to be under the misapprehension that the Metro non-discrimination ordinance dictates to private businesses what they can or cannot do. That’s not true. Private businesses in Tennessee will still be free to fire people for being homosexual or being suspected of being homosexual, according to the religious beliefs of those business owners. No one is being forced to be accepting, forgiving, or tolerant. Christian business owners need not fear any forced changes to their human relations policies even if the Metro ordinance stands.
However, the Metro non-discrimination ordinance does forbid the GOVERNMENT from firing people based on their sexual orientation. This is added to a list of other protected categories, including race, age, disability, and religion, all of which were controversial among some groups at the times they were added, but none of which were catastrophic once implemented. Protecting such categories of minorities from government discrimination serves two primary purposes in the interests of all Americans.
First, we live in a country where each citizen is recognized as equal before the law. That principle is basic both to our Declaration of Independence and the various federal and state constitutions, and although we don’t always get it right in practice, it is in everyone’s best interests that we continue to strive to meet that ideal. We don’t want the government deciding who can participate in our democracy based on personal traits that cannot be changed (like skin color) or on matters of personal, conscionable choice (like religion). No matter which of these two categories you think sexual orientation falls under, the government has no business forbiding you a job as a law-abiding citizen based merely on some personal trait.
This is to stop the proverbial camel in the tent moreso than anything, since once the government starts advocating a particular group over any other, they are free to discriminate against ANY group of its citizens. Just because your religion is in good with the government today doesn’t mean it will be tomorrow. The government is required to include everyone – even the people we might not approve of, personally – because if we do not, someday it might just be our turn.
The second purpose of the Metro non-discrimination ordinance is to preserve the principle of free market competition. America is supposedly a meritocracy where our business success is ultimately determined by our skill and work ethic, not because we were born with the right skin color or into the right religion. In reality, our success is still strongly influenced by a number of factors we inherit due to no merit of our own, but in our capitalist society we still work according to the principle that the most skilled, intelligent, and hardest-working among us will ultimately succeed. We might be born with all the advantages in the world and squander them due to laziness, or we might be born without any significant advantages and overcome every obstacle to realize the fullness of the American dream.
When we allow our government to fire someone based on a personal trait like sexual orientation, we abandon these free market principles. We fail to evaluate workers based on their job performance, and instead demand that our group (heterosexuals) be placed at an unfair market advantage by the government. Heterosexuals that deny homosexuals jobs based on sexual orientation betray a deep sense of entitlement. Not only do they want to be recognized as better than homosexuals and given an artificial advantage over them, but they betray the fact that they are not better than homosexuals, since if they were better they wouldn’t need the government granting them this artificial advantage to successfully compete.
Of course, I’m being slightly disingenous here. The reality is, business owners who want to discriminate against homosexuals will not be able to work as government contractors if the Metro ordinance stands. This could mean a loss of business for them. Other contractors who are at least willing to work with homosexuals will step up to take their place. Frankly, I’m surprised that they object to such terms being dictated to them, since if they are entitled to decide who works for their company, surely the citizens of Nashville-Davidson should be allowed to decide who works for our own government. Our Council voted the law into place fairly and democratically and it should stand as the will of the people without outsiders with different values trying to impose different laws on us to suit themselves.
The real problem isn’t the hypocrisy of their position, though. These “Christian” businesses will have to decide if they truly believe their success is based on the values of their faith, or if they want to actually compete based on performance in the free market without any government-imposed advantages for their beliefs. Do they trust in the arm of man, or do they trust in the providence of God? If it is truly in God they trust, and God has truly commanded them to discriminate against homosexuals, then losing these government contracts shouldn’t be any hardship for them. God will bless them for standing for their principles and will pour out a blessing so large on their businesses that they will not have room enough to receive it. The rest of us will wish them all the best as they truly become private businesses instead of suckling off the teat of government contracts.
2011-05-18 » admin