Random Acts of Chaos

helvetebrann:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation will be filing a complaint with the state after several local florists refused flower orders for delivery to Jessica Ahlquist, the 16-year-old Cranston High School West student who recently won a lawsuit ordering the school district to remove a prayer banner in her school’s auditorium.

Annie Laurie Gaylor of the FFRF said the foundation will be filing a complaint that alleges one of the florists, Twins Florist, violated the civil rights act by denying service to Ahlquist based on her religion or lack thereof.

“We have basic civil rights standards in our society. A business can’t shun you because you’re an atheist,” Gaylor said. “You do not have the right to refuse to do business with someone based on categories and that includes religion. It’s as if they said ‘I will not deliver to a black person.’”

The Civil Rights Act guarantees: “full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

What these florists did was wrong both on an ethical and a legal level.