ย December 14, 2022ย by Ann Coulter
Read more at https://anncoulter.com/2022/12/14/gays-youre-not-black/
For at least a half-century now, every special pleader in America has made the following argument: Yeah, but what if we were black?
This is supposed to be rhetorical kryptonite, capable of anathematizing โdiscriminationโ against any group: atheists, women, gays, immigrants, illegal immigrants, the disabled, Muslims โ basically anyone except a fully abled, cis-gendered, white male born in this country.
Oh my gosh! Youโre right โ we DO have to let girls try out for the Green Bay Packers!
OK, fine, weโll hire more blind lifeguards.
Of course, Shadi Abdullah is welcome to be president of our campus Hillel group.
Naturally, the โWhat if they were black?โ argument came up ad nauseum at the Supreme Court last week during oral arguments over Coloradoโs โanti-discriminationโ law. According to Colorado, making two gay guys who are married to one another feel โunwelcome, objectionable, unacceptable or undesirableโ is the equivalent of separate water fountains for black people.
A web designer had petitioned the court, objecting to the lawโs requirement that she design a website celebrating a gay marriage, in contravention of her religious beliefs. But if youโd heard only the questions from Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, youโd think the petitioner was refusing to design websites for black people.
E.g.:
JUSTICE JACKSON: โ[C]an I ask you a hypothetical โฆ [What if] they want to have a sign next to the [shopping mall] Santa that says, โonly white children.โ Why isnโt your argument that they should be able to do that?โ [The hypothetical went on for hours, but that was the gist of it.]
These were a few of Justice Sotomayorโs questions:
โ โWhatโs the difference between that and โI donโt believe black people and white people should get marriedโ?โ
โ โTell me how thatโs different, by the way. What youโre basically saying is, in our Ollieโs Barbecue case, the company there said, โIโll serve blacks but only on a takeout window, not inside my restaurant because that sends a message that I endorse integration โฆ.โโ
โ โWell, when I sit down to eat a meal by a full chef who creates this beautiful picture on a plate, why canโt he say, โI make specialized meals for my clients. I will not serve a black person.โโ
Hereโs a cheat sheet that should help answer the justicesโ questions:
Can I refuse to let black kids sit on Santaโs lap? โ NO.
Can I refuse to serve black people at my restaurant? โ NO.
Can I refuse to bake one of my wedding cakes for black people? โ NO.
Can I refuse to write speeches for black people? โ NO.
Can I refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for black people โ NO.
Can I refuse to let black people into the Marines? โ NO.
Can I discriminate against black people for any reason, ever? โ NO.
Displaying his own unique approach, Eric Olson, Coloradoโs solicitor general, who was defending the law (popular name: โWe Won the Right to Gay Marriage and Now Weโre Shooting the Woundedโ), made this pioneering argument: โWhat [a business] canโt do is say, โI reserve the right to refuse service, which means in practice I will not serve black people.โโ
A good rule of thumb is that any claim of discrimination that requires a comparison to black people is sophistry.
No offense โ Iโm sure the rest of you have really moving tales of woe, full of pathos and suffering. But gays, atheists, disabled people, women (whatever the hell that is), immigrants, illegals, please try to remember: YOUโRE NOT BLACK.
Itโs discrimination on the basis of race โ and only discrimination on the basis of race โ that is forbidden by our Constitution. Other forms of โdiscriminationโ may be stupid (if so, the market will punish you) or blindingly logical (football teams allowing only healthy young men to try out, or religious groups limiting officeholders to practitioners of the religion).
Only one type of discrimination ever stirred up such mass revulsion in this country that we decided to amend our Constitution to prohibit it: race discrimination.
Youโd think that at a moment when our entire national dialogue is fixated on the legacy of slavery, it wouldnโt be so difficult for people to grasp that black Americansโ unique history is not amenable to cut-and-paste victimhood.
To make up for slavery and Jim Crow, we abrogated constitutional provisions about freedom of association, freedom of contract and freedom of speech. We tossed out basic rules of fairness to allow (temporarily) affirmative action, set-asides and quotas. Behemoth departments were created in Washington to stamp out the last vestiges of discrimination on the basis of race.
By now, of course, the only discrimination involving black Americans is in their favor. But that doesnโt change the rule: NO DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF RACE.
As G.K. Chesterton said, โWhen you break the big laws, you do not get freedom, you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.โ
Thatโs what โdiscriminationโ law is today. Instead of one big law: โNo Race Discrimination!โ we have a million little laws about strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, rational basis test, public accommodations, bona fide occupational qualifications, and on and on and on. At the same time, we have open race discrimination against whites and Asians.
Unless youโre alleging race discrimination, take your lumps like a cis-gendered white man. You can be fired, not hired, turned away, rejected, called names, disciplined, looked askance at โ and no one cares.
This simple rule allows us to live in what we call โfreedom.โ As the libertarians would say (if they were real libertarians), start your own website business, bakery, Hillel organization, professional football team, holiday, all-womenโs eating club, etc. etc. etc.
Gays, youโre not black. (And youโre not Allan Bakke.) Gaysโ median household income is about $115,000 โ the highest of any group in America. Itโs $45,000 for black people. To my gay readers, answer this honestly: When you move into a neighborhood, do home prices go up or down?
Blacks must be looking at gay rights activists in bewilderment, thinking: Why couldnโt we be oppressed like that?
For the rest of you, memorize this, recite it in the shower, write it on your hand: โUnless Iโm being discriminated against on the basis of my race, I will stop being a pain in everyoneโs ass.โ
COPYRIGHT 2022 ANN COULTER
Written
on December 23, 2022