Discriminophobia - a neologism passed round recently by a Lithuanian lawyer - is a spot-on definition of the fear not to discriminate someone unintentionally. A prohibition on discrimination on the basis of age, sexual orientation, disability, religion, race or ethnicity in employment, education or other spheres of services is enshrined in Lithuanian laws and is taking root in society. Yet, comical and contentious discrimination cases make one think that something is wrong here.

 

In 2003 a Dane, an owner of a small pizzeria on the island of Fanoe, was penalized for refusing to serve French and German tourists on the ground that Germany and France failed to support their allies in the invasion of Iraq aimed at overturning Saddam Hussein. He was fined 5,000 Danish kroners (app. 670 Euros) for racial discrimination, lost some of his clients and was assaulted by vandals and finally jailed for non-payment. Despite this he had a clear conscience, he said, as he felt he had to behave as he had done.

 

Lithuania’s equal opportunities ombudsman has on the table a complaint from a florist’s firm against a rival business whose black courier sells twice as many delivery services than their white courier does. The ombudsman has made a preliminary statement that this is an obvious case of racial discrimination but it can be hard to prove. The Ombudsman will have a difficult task to prove that consumers behave foolishly when they pay twice as much for the same service and that it is not the consumers who are the actual discriminators when they prefer the black courier. The ombusdman will have to explain the case so that people believe the whole (non-)discrimination drive has a serious ideological basis, that it is not yet another political-cultural fashion which Lithuania is diligently following to the letter of EU directives.

 

Yet, a serious logical justification is lacking. From the very beginning the ban on discrimination was aimed to establish equality of all before the law and before the authorities. Today’s hysteria is increasingly prohibiting discrimination in private relations among private individuals. However, relations between people in the matters of love, money and friendship, the argument goes, are nothing but discrimination. We buy cheap products and discriminate against expensive goods; we discriminate against the unreliable, the ugly, the pretty, the red, the green, the high, the low, etc. etc. Everyone of us discriminates as we choose what goals to pursue, what needs to satisfy and by what means to achieve that. The same goes for both persons and firms.

 

Consumers are being constantly discriminated as they do not have enough money to buy expensive goods, while retail chains discriminate against people in small towns by not building supermarkets there. The equal opportunities ombudsman has recently resolved that higher motor vehicle civil liability insurance premiums charged on young persons are discrimination on the basis of age. Insurance companies claim that younger drivers are a greater risk, so they themselves should carry the burden of higher premiums. Unfortunately, with this decision all the insured will have to pay for the risk that young drivers pose.

 

The number of human qualities on which the law puts a discrimination ban is increasing. The equality-before-the-law attitude towards man regarding one’s opinion, religion or nationality originates in the works of the thinkers of the 16th century. The obligation of non-discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation was established only in the past decades. Because of technological changes, today’s discussions about what a (real) man is may spawn a new basis for non-discrimination.  Is a test-tube baby or a man with electronic brain or a brain with a mechanical body a man with all ensuing consequences and a right to non-discrimination?

 

Are we close to having a case at the Vilnius district court in which a man/woman will charge his or her spouse for getting divorced on the ground that he or she cannot love because of a transplanted pig’s heart.