That form of discrimination has a long history in this country, and that history is proof against the notion that communities will punish businesses that discriminate. History shows us that communities won't punish businesses that discriminate against unrepresented minorities.

This is exactly where I stand on the issue. I come from a small shit town in the south, I know that if some of the local businesses decided to discriminate against homosexuals, they'd be rewarded by the flood of customers who felt protected against the imagined threat of homosexuals in their vicinity. Even if there were people in town who didn't agree with it, they'd just keep to themselves because they're not the ones who make waves.

Furthermore, there are plenty of regions where this sort of practice could deprive people of convenient access to basic services based on their sexual orientation. This is not always a case of "take your business elsewhere" when everywhere you could take it has united against you. Besides that, since when do a person's private religious beliefs have any bearing on their business practices? Is it not enough to say "I will do this for you because I'm a professional, but I want you to know I don't agree with it"? If there's a segment of the public so unsavory they can't bear to provide services to them, they probably shouldn't be operating a public business.

I guess it boils down to this, in my opinion: If business owners have a choice about what types of people they serve, those people may be forced to go without services (see: black people who couldn't get a hotel in the south). If business owners are forced to serve everyone equally (barring specific circumstances, of course), they don't experience any kind of loss, they just have to deal with some discomfort which reasonably is the cost of doing business.