The title is the basic question. Under what circumstances should a service provider who serves the general public be permitted to refuse service to an otherwise qualified custormer on the basis of moral objection to something about that person. I'm going to list a few examples, both real life and hypothetical, but by no means do I mean for these to be the sole subject of discussion. I'm more interested in whether there is a general rule that can be applied or if it's entirely situational, and if so, what differentiates one situation from another, other than agreeing with the moral stance of the professional?
Would it be appropriate to refuse to
- service a car with an anti/pro war bumper sticker?
- service a car with a Jesus/Darwin fish?
- fill a prescription for contraceptives?
- fill a prescription for female hormones for a male customer?
- rent an apartment to a gay/straight couple with excellent credit?
- give a good grade on a paper that was well-written but promotes a morally offensive point of view?
- serve a Muslum/Christian/Jewish couple/customer at a restaurant or store?
- rent a hotel room to a mixed race couple?
Under what circumstances is it appropriate to refuse service based on moral objections?
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To start the discussion, I've been on the receiving end of a few of these, particularly the apartment scenario and the female hormones. While looking for a short term apartment while our condo was being renovated, we found that vacancies tended to disappear quite quickly when it was a lesbian couple attempting to rent the apartment. We ended up at an Extended Stay America, where they didn't give a damn. It was frustrating for us and didn't make sense in that we would have been nearly ideal tenants; quiet, orderly, prepay the entire time staying there upfront.
We also ran into the problem of a pharmacist refusing to fill a prescription for hormones for sexual reassignment. It again seems at best foolish, as they pharmacy would be giving up a $200 a month customer just in hormones alone, not to mention that they lost all future prescriptions from us and from their friends.
From a business perspective, it seems foolish. From an ethical perspective, it's more difficult to come to a conclusion, because it's difficult to separate that we see the moral/ethical issue in both cases as non-existent.
So, while I think as a general rule moral considerations should be kept separate from public services, I'm not sure that I can say with 100% certainty that there is no circumstance where I'd refuse service as a service provider. But I'm not sure where, or even if it's possible, to draw that line objectively.
Gilda