Jack Phillips, a baker in Colorado, was faced with a dilemma when asked to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. Claiming it contradicted his religious beliefs, he refused. The couple, offended, then claimed that Phillips was in violation of state law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Commission. After months of legal dispute, the case eventually made it to the Supreme Court. The questions of ‘who violated whom?’ and ‘where is the line between freedom and hate speech drawn?’ were frequently raised. In the end, the Supreme Court sided with the baker, claiming he was within his freedom of religion protected by the First Amendment. This issue of ‘who violated whom?’ still arises today, and some use it to justify hate speech.
Some cases, like the one from Colorado, are still being brought up as points of contentions by people debating the legality of denying service to someone. The question we raise, however, is: does the first amendment have the potential to protect hate speech or discrimination?
“Congress shall make no law […] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” is how the right to freedom is protected under the constitution, but something that is in question is where is the line between an expression of opinion and hate speech? The answer you get varies greatly person to person but one thing most people can agree on is that it has no place in modern American society. So, what is hate speech? Hate speech is speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, but The American Bar Association defines hate speech as speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, gender, or religion.
This definition of hate speech is much more narrow under the eyes of the law allowing for much more freedom of speech than in the eyes of the public, and in the consideration of hate speech, the intent of the speaker is important. Also, it’s vital to think about the direction that we are headed in as a society in regards to giving hate speech a platform in both politics and in everyday life such as in our entertainment and on social media.