Pick and Choose

The California Supreme Court has ruled that a group of doctors cannot use their religion as a legal excuse for violating the civil rights of their former patient, an Oceanside lesbian, to whom they refused an infertility treatment.  The refusal of treatment was based on the physicians religious views about her sexual orientation.

In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled that Guadalupe “Lupita” Benitez was entitled to be treated like other patients with her same health problem, and that constitutional protections for religious liberty do not excuse unlawful discrimination. Writing for the court, Justice Kennard said: “ …defendant physicians contend that exposing them to liability for refusing to perform the IUI medical procedure for plaintiff infringes upon their First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. Not so. As we noted earlier, California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act imposed on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations, thus precluding any such establishment or its agents from telling patrons that it will not comply with the Act.”

Read the rest at gay_blog.blogspot.com.