Something Borrowed, Something Forced

Wow, let me list the things that are wrong in this article.

1. Someone refused to make a cake for a gay wedding. How incredibly lame. Do we have to respect that person's viewpoint, and the religious dogma that underlies it? I'm atheist and tend not to get into peoples' face about religion, however I don't respect these views, nor should I. What Phillips' lawyer calls his "conscience", I call bigotry. People should base opinions on reason.
2. The gay couple is trying to force application of a bad Colorado law and override Jack Philips' right to choose who he does business with. "Civil rights" are a mixed bag of equality and overreaching (i.e. trying forcibly correct wrongs and force opinions on people) and this is overreaching. Nobody should be able to force you to serve someone you don't want to, no matter how bad your ideas are. Don't want to serve blacks, or Jews, or gays? You should have that right. And we have the right to boycott and picket your establishment, and call you on your ugly ideas. The main problem that the civil rights movement solved is not private discrimination, but a failure by governments to protect their citizens from harm equally, and educating people about equality, and for those things it should be praised.
3. The ACLU is advocating contradictory positions: they say they support freedom of religion yet they want to force ideas on people using government. Huh?
4. Phillips' lawyer says it's not about "commerce". Well, it is. Not because commerce is something special, but because it is a subset of simply making choices concerning our body, life and property. Religion does not matter, it's the right to our lives that matters. There is no difference in principle between the right to express an opinion, and the right to trade with whoever we choose, or not.
5. There is also an unstated legal problem underlying all of this, namely the lack of constitutional protections on commerce. And the violations of our rights stemming from the way the Interstate Commerce Clause has been interpreted. Unfortunately, we enumerated at least one too many federal powers.
6. Oh, and in purely journalistic standpoint, the article does not state who Nicolle Martin is. She is Mr. Phillips' attorney.