> Businesses have the right to refuse service

Yet so many people flipped out when a business wouldn’t design a custom cake for a same-sex couple.

Which is it? Can businesses enforce their own rules and values on their own property or not?

Businesses can enforce their own rules and values except if it discriminates on protected classes of people. There is an existent argument that a business can discriminate on protected classes of people if discriminating follows their religious beliefs.

As far as I understand wearing a mask doesn't fall into either category so the gay cakes thing has very little to do with this and comes off as whataboutism.

So if we repealed the Civil Rights Act, and therefore got rid of the concept of protected classes, you would think that it is okay to discriminate on the basis of one’s sex, race, and sexual orientation?

Morality is not the same as legality.

Your comment confuses me.

Masking helps prevent spread of illness.

Legality should follow morality, but the reverse often happens.

The grandparent comment didn't appear to suggest what you're clarifying question asserts.

That comment implied that discrimination was okay unless it was against a protected class. It is reasonable to ask what they would do if there was no such thing as a protected class. Would they approve of all forms of discrimination? Or would they do as your sibling comment did and decide that actually the concept of protected classes doesn’t matter and one can pick and choose which types of discrimination are moral/immoral.

It’s very easy to have a belief that businesses should be able to pick who their customers are or that they should be forced to serve everyone, but any opinion in between is very difficult to make logically consistent.

That's true, morality and legality are different, although one hopes laws will generally reflect society's view of morality. But you're right, discriminating against people based on their race or sexual orientation is immoral regardless of its legality. And requiring a mask in one's establishment during a respiratory pandemic is entirely reasonable, regardless of its legality.

Where do you live that this is still the case? I haven’t worn a mask anywhere in over a year and no one has said anything. And these days I only see a handful of people wearing masks in a business.