I'm not arguing that we should treat what sex workers do the same as bakers. I'm trying to make a couple of different points.
First, we have to recognize that these discrimination cases are far from simple black and white issues that they often are portrayed.
These cases are on a continuum. Asking someone who's religious belief is that homosexuality is a mortal sin to sell a gay person a candy bar is one end of the continuum. All society is asking the religious person to do is give the gay person change and a receipt. Asking a porn star to have a sex with a gay person, is on the other end of the spectrum. Asking a baker to make a custom wedding case is somewhere in the middle. I think you are being awfully dismissive of the baker's religious beliefs. (He is risking his immortal soul in supporting a homosexual lifestyle, and while a couple of non-believers like you and I may scoff at the silliness, in his mind it is a real risk).
Where should society the draw line in this continuum, is an important question and one worthy of discussion. I don't envy the Supreme Court in trying to decide this.
The second point is by posting about her choice August, opened herself up to criticism. I guess in this respect I will hold sex workers to the same standard as everybody else. If you do something controversial either don't post it about or be prepared to deal with the backlash. It's tragic that it may have been the final nudge that pushed her over the edge.
It kind of sounds like you are arguing that sex workers should be treated the same as bakers. You're saying you aren't, and then you are making that argument.
As has been pointed out, there isn't anything specific in the bible what is or isn't allowed. And if you're going to say that people should be able to live by their religious beliefs, well you could also support certain acts of terrorism, and various other horrific acts which people have done in the name of their religious beliefs over the years. If a sex worker also works in a shop or another business (as many do) then they have to adhere to the same rules as everyone else. When it comes to deciding who enters his or her body, they absolutely have a choice and can turn down who they choose for whatever petty reason. But if you start saying people can be awful to others for whatever "belief" they hold, who is to say what religious beliefs people hold? You are also condoning something which deliberately excludes people in a nasty way and allowing it in the name of religion. As much as it's all well and good to have religious beliefs, I don't believe they should be pegged in with homophobia or racism. I know plenty of religious people who are neither homophobic or racist. Those aspects of religion are cultural, not part of the religion. Culture is something that laws and regulations have some control over.
At the end of the day, a physical risk which could literally endanger your life is very different to something which is in someone's head. Unless that baker has a mental health issue which is causing him to fear certain types of people in a way that could affect his health then it's not really a legitimate excuse. If it's just a case of something he'll grumble about for a bit and then get used to (most likely scenario) then he/she needs to buck up and deal with an accepting society. Eventually they will get used to it and will enjoy the profits the gay community brings in and won't even think of it as being an issue, because their social values and norms have been altered.
Anyway, the comparison is ridiculous and it's as though it's one being made for the point of arguments sake. Trying to compare a person not wanting to take work which would be a legitimate health risk, with people who don't want to do work for someone because they don't like said group, is insane. You're taking two completely different scenarios and treating them like they have something in common.
A more similar scenario might be if a reporter didn't want to go to certain high risk countries such as war zones, or areas of high risk of rape, disease or terrorist attacks, the reporter does a risky job anyway, but they have chosen not to take that extra risk. Then their employer tries to trick them into going to a place of high risk despite it being written in their contract that she will not go to such areas, and so they share that on social media to warn others who might work with that company.
In this case, would people start attacking said reporter, calling them racist/nationalist? Would the reporter be racist or nationalist for not wanting to take an additional risk for work? Regardless of there being no other evidence of being racist or nationalist except for not wanting to go to higher risk places. I bet they wouldn't, most people would accept that certain countries are higher risk and it would be left at that. People would be shocked that a company tried to trick someone into doing something outside of their contract which could have caused higher risk to them.
Comparing this with the baker scenario, it would be a reporter who refused to work with black or gay people for no reason other than their own fears/beliefs. This scenario is not remotely comparable to a reporter not wanting to work in high risk areas due to genuine safety concerns.
But, like a porn star, reporters have much more flexibility in their job than a baker would. Part of being a reporter may be going with subjects which interest you, you might choose not to work with certain people if you felt it didn't go with your career path. Or you might feel that you would not be able to do a good job with certain cases if you had extreme beliefs, or had life experiences which led to certain feelings. I might dislike the reporter if they were racist/homophobic/sexist, but they have chosen a job where this flexibility is more important in terms of them being able to do their job well.
Going back to August, I am really sorry that another person is now dead due to online bullying. While yes there were probably other factors involved, it would be naive to think that this did not have a strong influence on her decision, and was likely what tipped her over the edge. This isn't the first time online bullying has caused someone to commit suicide. I think people underestimate just how awful it is. It's so easy to say "if you post something controversial then you deserve it", but that's only fair in cases of people rationally saying they disagree. Online bullying goes much further than that. I know that I have felt distressed when I have found myself in a disagreement with several people on this site on several occasions. I don't have anxiety, but I have felt anxious and stressed and it has impacted my life outside of the internet. This is talking about minor disagreements. The same has happened if I have posted something on facebook and people have commented in a ruder, more dismissive way. It's so easy to pretend this doesn't have an influence on us, but our sense of self is so determined by people around us. Imagine being a bisexual (August claimed to be attracted to women) and have the entire internet throwing horrific comments at you and calling you homophobic because you made a decision many adult stars choose due to legitimate safety concerns.
These comments are often not just what happens on twitter either, the amount of cases where something will go viral and the person will get death threats in the mail, it's crazy. Years ago something happened in my city with a woman with the same name as my mother uses as her working name basically acting like a complete asshat, and the video went viral. My mother had to do an article in the paper to explain that it wasn't her to stop her getting some horrific threats, just because she shared a name with that woman.
If someone were already in a difficult place in their life, it would be so easy to send that person over the edge. Many of my friends have issues with depression and anxiety and could potentially be suicidal, including myself, but yet we're all still alive and moving forwards. I would not be surprised though if this happened to some of my friends, maybe even myself, if it became too much and one of us took our own life. It's morbid to think about, but it's true. Sometimes there's only so much crap a person can take before they lose it. I cannot begin to imagine dealing with that level of backlash. Poor woman.
It's all well and good to have a debate on the internet, but I feel like internet trolls who are as nasty as possible, bringing personal stuff into it, have no idea of the very real impact they can have on another persons health and wellbeing. It's so easy to just throw your negativity and anger into the little box that is your computer without ever thinking that there's a real person on the other side.
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that's all I have to say
