# No, the free market will not protect civil rights (or 'why the Civil Rights Act is still needed) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-the-free-market-will-not-protect-civil-rights-or-why-the-civil-rights-act-is-still-needed/680982 "2014-02-10T16:30:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 134
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-the-free-market-will-not-protect-civil-rights-or-why-the-civil-rights-act-is-still-needed/680982/134 "2014-02-11T15:57:43Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > The NFL is notably ruthless when it comes to evaluating talent, and teams have been known to draft convicted felons and players with known drug problems. Of course, we won’t actually know until the draft takes place in May, but as of today, it seems that an acknowledged good player will likely not be able to sell his services at a _fair market value_ because he is gay. Let’s stipulate that the teams will not draft him because he is gay (which, AFAIU, is not certain. He’s not that great a player). What kind of legislation would you suggest that would prevent such an outcome? A quota of gay players in the NFL? Separate draft of gay players to make sure some make it through? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-the-free-market-will-not-protect-civil-rights-or-why-the-civil-rights-act-is-still-needed/680982)._