Engelina Smith: Since when do those in public service get to choose?
Re “Marriage license standoff heats up” (Page 7A, Sept. 2): Where does it end? Though it is now legal for homosexuals to marry in all 50 states, some people seem to think they have the right to deny all kinds of services. The article stated: “Bakers who don’t want to bake cakes for same-sex weddings, clerks who don’t want to issue marriage licenses, photographers who don’t want to provide their services.”
If someone chooses a profession of public service, then it seems he or she does not get to choose to whom they will provide this service to – regardless of any moral/religious objections. Is this country going backwards? No one should get to judge others.
It seems the motto “live and let live” is still a good one. As a nurse in the Netherlands in the early ’60s, abortions were performed in a Roman Catholic hospital where I was employed. Pregnancies can still be terminated in the Netherlands, and physicians in a hospital or clinic are providing the service. That just enforces the statement that anyone in a profession of public service should, indeed, provide their services.
Engelina Smith, Atwater
This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Engelina Smith: Since when do those in public service get to choose?."