Religious freedom has yet to include a clause that allows you to impose your beliefs on others.
And recent suggestions that Denver’s Muslim cabdrivers are failing to pick up disabled passengers with seeing-eye dogs because of religious objections would be such an imposition.
In a few cities – Minneapolis the most recent example – Muslim cabdrivers, accommodating Islamic law, have clashed with locals after refusing to serve passengers who have alcohol or pets.
The subject came up this week at a transportation hearing in Colorado.
“We’re sorry what your religion or culture might be, but you’re here in Colorado now, and you’re providing a service,” said Terry Willert, chief of transportation at the Public Utilities Commission.
This led state Sen. Scott Renfroe, a Republican senator from Greeley, to reply: “Are you saying … they should just get over it?”
Well, yes, Senator. If the allegations are true, they should get over it – or find different work.
But the question is: Are the allegations true?
Or more precisely, what allegations?
Leaving the blind at the curbside is illegal. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, privately owned businesses that serve the public – restaurants, hotels, taxicabs, theaters, sports facilities, etc. – are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities.
Terry Bote, spokesman for the PUC, explains that his agency is “not trying to tell religious people what they shouldn’t do.” But there is a law that requires drivers to pick up service dogs, and “if they don’t do it, they are subject to penalties.”
He’s right. So I ask Bote how many complaints have been filed with the PUC relating to passengers being denied service due to religious objections. Well, none that he can think of in the past six months.
So why the conversation?
Scott LaBarre, a lawyer and president of the Colorado chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, tells me he hears numerous complaints on the matter of refused service. Cabdrivers rarely will let on why they aren’t picking you up, he explains. And for a blind person, reporting the episode is no easy task.
“I hear of several incidents every year where a cabdriver won’t take a passenger because of their dog,” LaBarre explains. “I hear about 10-12 cases a year – and this just from the people I speak with. Most of the time the way that the driver articulates the issue to the passenger is that ‘I’m allergic.’ So they rarely frame it in the context of religious prohibitions. And frankly, it’s hard to tell.”
Diane McGeorge, who was president of the federation for 29 years and the Colorado Center for the Blind, also relays many horror stories on the topic.
“I respect religion, but we have a right to take our dogs anywhere,” she contends. “Maybe you should reconsider your occupation. If you are going to give customer service, you give customer service.”
Then again, when I ask her if there was ever a time that a religious objection was used by a cabbie to refuse her service, she couldn’t think of a single incident.
LaBarre says he doesn’t believe most cabbies are involved. “It’s probably a small percentage of the cabdrivers, or relatively small number of drivers that are really objecting to the dogs.”
Americans make professional choices based on their religious objections all the time. Orthodox Jews shy away from the pork butchering industry, for instance. The Amish don’t opt for military careers. And evangelicals rarely man the front counter at an adult bookshop. And if there really are Muslim cabbies who refuse to pick up certain customers, they should find new jobs.
But you have to wonder if perhaps, just maybe, this subject has popped up because Denver may attempt to tighten its already fascistic control over the cab business before Democrats come to town next year. This after state lawmakers discussed loosening regulations.
Just a thought.
Sure, this sort of thing probably goes down infrequently. But a widespread problem in Denver?
I’m not buying it without proof.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
