The View cohosts got into a heated discussion on Wednesday's episode when cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin verbally defended the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the Colorado web designer who argued she had the constitutional right to hypothetically refuse her fake services to a same-sex couple.
Griffin, a White House associate to former Republican President Donald Trump, explained:
"I actually agree with the Supreme Court decision, but let me explain, and I do not think it protects this woman's right to discriminate."
She continued:
"Basically, what it says is, because something like creating a website would be freedom of expression or speech, this would also—let's flip it on its head—it would protect a gay web designer from having to create a bigoted, anti-LGBTQ website."
"They have the right based on their viewpoint protection to say, 'I don't want to do that.'"
Moderator Whoopi Golberg countered that "they have the right to say that" and added:
"You don't know somebody's gay unless you ask them, so if the web designer says, 'Um, we're booked up,' they don't have to deal with that other stuff this woman made this about."
You can watch the segment here.
Michigan Hair Salon Owner Will Apparently Refuse Trans Clients | The Viewyoutu.be
Griffin–who has claimed to be an LGBTQ+ ally since leaving the White House in 2020–continued:
"I think the precedent here is very narrowly tailored on expression, so it's saying if it's something about your viewpoint you do have a right to refuse services."
In response, cohost Sunny Hostin maintained it was "still discrimination."
Goldberg stressed her point, telling the panel:
"This is about being able to say, 'I don't want to do a gay person's website,' that's what this is about."
Joy Behar then challenged the discussion with a comparison example, asking:
"Does this mean that if I owned a salon and, let's say, Trump wanted to get a haircut, could I say no?"
Goldberg said in that scenario a hair stylist can say, "No, I refuse to do your hair" because it was their business and they have the right to say "no."
To which Beyhar remarked:
"I would like to open up a salon just for that to happen!"
Her sarcasm elicited laughter from the viewing audience–a much-needed respite from the tense discussion.
Hostin wrapped things up by saying:
"I think one of the problems that we're missing is as a country is you should not be able to discriminate because of their sexual orientation."
"That's what this is about," she stated.
Beyhar added:
"Obviously this woman has been at the mercy of a lot of fake news and lies about the gay community, about the transgender community."
"And now the Supreme Court has bolstered this particular prejudice up and there's false information."
When Hostin suggested Americans needed to do so much more to "enshrine and protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community," an exasperated Goldberg responded:
"Think about all the rules that have gone by the wayside."
"What guarantee do any of us have that we have the right to be served because they keep rolling stuff back?"
Indeed, her concern is something to think about.
