DOJ supports anti-LGBT discrimination

And this, my friends, is why it counts who sits in the White House (because they are the ones who appoint turds like Jeff Sessions):
Today (Thursday, Sept. 7), the U.S. Department of Justice, led by U.S. Attorney General (and Trump appointee) Jeff Sessions, filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that businesses that are open to the public have a constitutional right to discriminate against LGBT people.
The brief was filed in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the case in which the owner of a Colorado bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Lower courts have all ruled that, in refusing to make the cake, the bakery violated Colorado’s non-discrimination law.
But Trump’s and Session’s DOJ says screw the Colorado law. The U.S. Constitution says the baker doesn’t have to make the cake for the gay men because his religion teaches him to hate gay people. (I may be paraphrasing a little: “Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights,” Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall wrote in the brief, according to The Washington Post.)
The ACLU has a different opinion. ACLU Deputy Legal Director Louise Melling said in a written statement, “This Justice Department has already made its hostility to the rights of LGBT people and so many others crystal clear. But the brief was shocking, even for this administration. What the Trump administration is advocating for is nothing short of a constitutional right to discriminate.”
She added, “We are confident that the Supreme Court will rule on the side of equal rights, just at the lower courts have.”
Texas’ own Criminal — I mean, Attorney — General Ken Paxton issued a statement this afternoon making sure that everybody knows he hates the gays, too. According to the press release, Paxton “led a 20-state coalition” in filing an amicus brief supporting the baker and discrimination.
Paxton said, “The Supreme Court has the opportunity to affirm that the First Amendment contains robust protections for people who choose to operate their businesses consistent with their faith. The owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop should be allowed to choose what he will or won’t create without fear of being unjustly punished by the government.”