Refusing Service as a Business Owner on Ethical Grounds
Imagine you run a commercial photography studio. The following scenario arises:
A potential client calls; it's the 'Holy Church of God is More Colourful than a Baboon's Arse' (not a real church, just in case you were wondering). This church wants some promotional shots of the congregation. You end the call saying you will provide a quote (as normal), and then quickly google the church to get a sense of their needs. My search turns up that this church is strongly homophobic. Wetboro Baptist Church level homophobic (you can swap that out with anything comparable that you find abhorrent if gay rights ain't your thing)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on -
Addressing my own question, it seems like it should be an easy 'yes'; however, this might make me a hypocrite. It would be a form of discrimination, one for which I could possibly be sued (in Canada). Lawsuits aside, these are law-abiding citizens for which I have no objective reason to refuse service. I don't support businesses subjectively refusing service on an ethical level, because this supports the very sort of discrimination I am against.
Under the same principle that I am refusing service, other businesses could refuse service to any manner of folk from gays to communists to atheists to single mothers (and so on). Doesn't this undermine the established freedoms of those people?
Naturally, I could cop out on the contract in all sorts of ways that wouldn't reveal my true reason, but the ethical concern remains.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on -
I would keep everything above board. Submit your quote, let them know that - as an ethical business owner - you do not discriminate based on religion, sexual orientation, et al. Tell them that ANY work you carried out for them would be of the highest professional standard.
In addition, though, tell them that your personal views on (in this example) homosexuality are strongly opposed to theirs. Even though this will not affect your work in any way, you feel it is important to state this so that they can decide if this will present a conflict of interest.
Everything is out in the open, you have made your views known, there is no discrimination involved on your part, and the ball is their ethical court.
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on
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In terms of business ethics, this is the practice I typically support.
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Permalink Reply by Jon Heim on -
I'm going to agree with Matt. Do the job, make sure they know you're views and let it up to them if they will or will not come back. Seems like that is the right thing to do.
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Permalink Reply by Sophie on -
Honestly I would give a quote but give them the silent treatment. And if they press me I would say, "I just have a full load those dates."
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on
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In reality, my branding would probably preclude anti-gay activists from supporting my business. It's just a theoretical consideration. Anyone in the commercial arts has to consider the possibility of objectionable clients and where their bottom line is drawn. I mean a contract from Shell, Syncrude or Suncor could set me up quite nicely, financially, but I'd certainly be conflicted.
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on
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I'd be curious to see what contractual restrictions they would want to apply. In all likelihood, I would take such a contract only because the labor and image licensing fees should be high enough to make above average profit and still donate some of the money to environmental organizations.
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Permalink Reply by Kenneth Montville D.D. on -
So long as you provide a disclaimer that the owner can decline service for any reason you should be fine. Normally I would say take their money, but if they are so ethically vile that you would consider not doing the shots you are probably better off just not doing them.
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on
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I believe you can refuse service without disclosing the reason, but there are reasons for refusing service that are considered illegal or that justify a lawsuit. So 'any' reason wouldn't really be true. If, by some means, they can make a case that I refused service based on discrimination, I'd still be on the hook.
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on
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They could get sued in that case. It happened to a printer in Toronto who refused to print items for a Gay and Lesbian organization.
Ah, it's on wikipedia:
In 2000, Scott Brockie, a Toronto printer, was fined $5,000 by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for refusing to print letterhead, envelopes, and business cards for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.[14] Brockie unsuccessfully appealed to the Ontario appellate court to overturn the fine. The court ruled that the order requiring Brockie to print the materials was a justifiable violation of Brockie's religious rights, though it limited the scope of the Commission's ruling to only ordinary material such as letterhead and envelopes, saying the Commission "ought not to require Mr. Brockie to print material of a nature that could reasonably be considered to be in direct conflict with the core elements of his religious beliefs."
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on
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I could risk the lawsuit, or cop out on the contract for some other reason. If the scenario is modified slightly and the contract was for images for a campaign specifically against gay rights, I would probably refuse the contract regardless.
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