It’s The Law

On Facebook I was asked the other day exactly what is Public Accommodation and are we protected from religious zealots banning us from restaurants?

She was worried about what would happen if Washington passes a “religious freedom” law to Connecticut. I posted…

CT Find Law defines "Public accommodations are places that serve the public, such as hotels, coffee shops, bus stops, laundromats, zoos, bowling alleys, and more" that is a very broad definition.

As for the religious exemptions when we were working to pass the non-discrimination law we were told that the exemption only applies to places of worship . The CT Safe Harbors Project says...
"The exemption applies concerning employment of those who perform work to carry out the activities of such religious organizations, as well as to matters of discipline, faith, internal organization or rules established by the religious entity. Although the exemption is broad, it is not a carte blanche for an employer to use his or her religious beliefs as a justification for discriminating against a gay person"

Then this morning I found this article about a law suit in California where a trans person was denied a haircut.

Trans soldier settles lawsuit against barber who denied haircut for ‘religious’ reasons
Pink News
By Joseph Patrick McCormick
7th February 2017

An army sergeant who sued a barbers which refused to serve them because they are trans has settled in their lawsuit.

The trans sergeant from California Kendall Oliver took legal action against the barbershop after the owner refused to give them a haircut.

Oliver has now settled in the lawsuit. The settlement amount has not been disclosed.
But as part of the settlement, the barbers is now required to serve anyone who walks through their doors, and to stop discriminating based on religious belief.

The barber shop owner Richard Hernandez, admitted he had broken the law by refusing to serve Oliver.

Well I suppose this is a case of good news, bad news, and good news.

The good news was that the barber won’t cut her hair because she is a woman. The bad news is that he would not cut her hair and the good news was she won her case.

Connecticut has a similar gender inclusive non-discrimination law that has a religious exemption so we should be protected if Congress passes a so called “Religious Freedom” law.