A recent Supreme Court ruling asserting free speech rights is being condemned by the political Left. In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the Court ruled that the First Amendment protects the right of a website designer to refuse service to gay individuals. Progressives Regressives are arguing that the ruling opens the door for businesses to discriminate based on any criteria they choose, including race, ethnicity, and religion. While there are free speech issues involved in the case, property rights are the fundamental issue.
The right to property means the freedom to produce and trade. It means that one can choose the terms and conditions by which one will economically interact with others. To discriminate means to recognize differences. Every decision we make is an act of discrimination, and that is true of both businesses and consumers. Discrimination is a value-neutral concept—in and of itself it is neither good nor bad.
A business has a moral right to establish the terms and conditions by which it will conduct trade with consumers. Those terms and conditions may be rationally relevant, or they may be the result of bias. For example, a fine dining restaurant may refuse service to men who are not wearing a jacket and tie. It could also refuse service to men who are wearing a red tie. The former is relevant while the latter is not. Whether one regards sexual orientation as relevant in regard to business transactions is a personal choice, and each individual, including a business owner, has a moral right to exercise that choice.
303 Creative is not the only web designer that a gay couple could use, and the same is true for every service. If a business is not gay-friendly, individuals have a multitude of options available. They can and should find a business that wants to voluntarily trade with them.
Without property rights, Ayn Rand wrote, no other rights are possible. Without the freedom to produce and trade, one cannot freely express one’s ideas. In the context of 303 Creative, the owner has a right to support the ideas of her choosing. But she can do so only if she is also free to produce and trade as she deems best. Property rights are the fundamental issue.