By Ryan Lazarus
A restaurant’s controversial discount policy has some concerned that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is being violated. The landmark legislation made it illegal for businesses to discriminate based on race and religion, among other things. Mary’s Gourmet Diner, in Winston-Salem North Carolina, applies 15% discounts to certain patrons tabs for “praying in public”. Some people are upset by what might appear to be religious discrimination.
Jordan Smith, who was on a business trip with two of her colleagues, sat down at Mary’s Gourmet Diner without an expectation of special treatment. Smith told HLN, “[I] prayed over our meal and the waitress came over at the end of the meal and said, ‘Just so you know, we gave you a 15% discount for praying,’ which I’d never seen before.”
This story went viral after a picture of Smith’s receipt was posted on Facebook by Z88, a Christian radio station, based in Orlando, Florida. According to the owner of the Gourmet Diner, Mary Haglund, “It’s about the whole idea of gratitude. It’s not a religious thing, it’s a spiritual thing.”
Even if the discount policy was only applied to certain religious groups, should that be illegal?
In the past week it has come to my attention that numerous stories regarding controversial but legal discrimination are everywhere. In Maryland, a hospital is refusing to hire tobacco users. Across the country in Northern California, a restaurant is trying its hardest to keep kids from disturbing adult patrons. They ban kids that cry or make loud noises from the dining room. As reported by The Libertarian Republic last year, there is a trend of women-only restaurants opening up around the globe.
Earlier this week Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was confronted on MSNBC about his criticism of the Civil Rights Act. Paul has been open about opposing parts of the Civil Rights Act that violate the rights of private business owners while still maintaining that government discrimination is wrong. He has stated in the past:
“Let me be clear: I support the Civil Rights Act because I overwhelmingly agree with the intent of the legislation, which was to stop discrimination in the public sphere and halt the abhorrent practice of segregation and Jim Crow laws,”
Many of Paul’s critics have unjustifiably tried to smear him as a racist for even questioning parts of the Civil Rights Act. Let’s examine the libertarian stance that private businesses have the right to discriminate for whatever reason regardless to whether the government recognizes that right.
Imagine saying to a sex worker who operates legally in certain places in Nevada, that she can’t discriminate who she sleeps with. If that sex worker refuses to sleep with a member of a certain race, should she face legal action? She is the employer of sex. Why is this not the same case for a business that refuses to serve customers of a certain race? Let’s take money out of the equation. Just think about how outraged people would be if they suggested women didn’t have the right to discriminate who they sleep with in romantic relationships. If a woman flat-out refused to date or sleep with a person outside her race, should she be penalized by law? Of course not!
If a white man refuses to eat at a restaurant owned by a black woman, should the white man face legal action? If not, why should it be illegal for a black woman to refuse service to a white man?
If rights “exist”, they must be universal. If we have a right to discriminate, we cannot make these bizarre exceptions for private businesses. The problem with arbitrary distinctions is they are not grounded by principles or rationality. Discrimination is unavoidable and often a desirable part of our everyday lives. We discriminate who we are friends with, who we do business with, and who we have romantic relationships with. Discrimination is ultimately about preferences. The government should not interfere with restaurants that prefer to exclude noisy kids, nor should they interfere when a bigoted store owner refuses to sell to a member of a race they hate.
Author Bio: Ryan Lazarus is an entrepreneur, future Oscar/Emmy winner, writer, and a great connector of people, ideas, and talent. A libertarian. Chipotletarian. Comedian.
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