A Christian activist goup, known as Abolish Human Abortion decided to order drinks in a coffee shop in Seattle on October 1st, a week ago. It would be there where they would be kicked out by the gay shop owner, Ben Borgman following a series of verbal attacks.

Coffee Shop Owner Harassing People

The group had been handing out pro-life pamphlets previous to entering the coffee shop. When Borgman found out after snatching one of the pamphlets which depicted the horror of abortions, he would tell them to leave, saying:

“I’m gay. You have to leave.”

After being questioned on whether the group would tolerate his presence because of his sexuality, Borgman would go on to threaten to get his boyfriend and perform sexual acts on him in public.

“Can you tolerate my presence, really? If I go get my boyfriend and f–k him in the a– right here, you’re going to tolerate that?”

After this, the activist group would try to defuse the situation, leading to them peacefully walking out.

So what does this mean?

Well this event clearly contrasts the event five years ago involving Jack Phillips, a baker who refused to serve a cake for a gay wedding. This would have come to the dismay of many liberal media outlets, calling for legislation forcing the man to serve for the couple.

With that in mind, should the coffee owner be forced to serve people with an agenda he strongly disagrees with (so strongly, he threatened to perform anal sex with his partner to make a point)?

No, of course not. People should be allowed to run their business as they see fit and it is not the government’s job to crack down on this behavior as it violates every principle of freedom and consent. It provides a dangerous leverage, when the government can willfully tell you to go against your conscious at the threat of being locked up.

And as for the coffee owner, and his shop, I expect his business will start to tank due to his discriminatory practices. In a free market, such practices are repugnant and as this event becomes more known, they will justfully lose their reputation and many customers.

Because we can universally agree discrimination is wrong, the ideas of freedom under a capitalist society are reinforced whenever these incidents occur.

This, or the gay baker incident isn’t an example of personal freedom going awry. It is rather an example of it working when these incidents generate huge outrage and condemnation from both sides.