Masterpiece Cake - A big nothing with some interesting commentary

Masterpiece Cake, as it will be known forevermore, was decided yesterday. I worked a tiny tiny bit on this case when I interned for ACLU of Colorado, which is pretty cool, notwithstanding the fact that I really added no discernable value. Charlie and David are lovely, though.

Yesterday morning, I joined the chorus of sighs as I heard the headline. It was foolish for me to jump to conclusions before reading the actual opinion.

One matter that I am not seeing discussed enough in the media is the Court’s comments that it was relevant that the incident that spawned this lawsuit occurred pre-Obergefell (the SCOTUS same-sex marriage decision). The Court suggested that the baker’s assumption that there was nothing illegal about refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding was bolstered by the fact that same-sex marriage was not recognized in Colorado at the time. That means that this case likely has little precedential value for any dispute arising since June of ’15.

The majority opinion itself little precedential value anyway; that’s what is meant when you keep hearing that the ruling is “narrow.” 

The Gender Binary Is Stupid: Early Childhood

It all starts with the idea that you must be either male or female. The inability to allow for an "other" option (indeed, even the need to ask at all) already alienates people who don't fit into the easy either/or boxes we shove infants into before we even wash the slime off them. It's not common, but it's a lot of people.

Then, society keeps attaching assumptions to those categorizations based on genitalia. If you stray too far from those assumptions, you'll probably be a target for bullying, which is often a way for the gender police to "keep you in line."

Snips and snails and puppy dog's tails. Cooties. Boys don't cry. Girls shouldn't be too tough. Girls get in that line, boys get in the other line. No, no, not defined by how you identify, but by what's between your legs. Let's make it clearer: Vaginas in this line, penises in the other line. That is your primary classification.

It's insane. Actually, it's fucking insane, but I'm trying to curse less these days.