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The way it makes sense is that "right-wing nutjob" is not a protected characteristic, whereas race & sexual orientation are protected.

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Religion is also a protected category, for what it's worth. Nevertheless, many people disagree with allowing a religious loophole to discriminate against gay customers.

That means you can't be discriminated against on the basis of your religion, not that you can discriminate against other people because of your religion though, right? Just like eg. being gay does not allow you to discriminate against black people.

I know it's more complicated in practice because the problem is political and other factors come into play.

It's hard because some longstanding religious practices would now be seen as discriminatory. For example, many branches of Islam teach that it is not permissible for unrelated members of the opposite sex to touch.

If a Muslim man is punished by his employer for not shaking hands with women he meets in his work, is that religious discrimination? Or is he discriminating against the women because of their sex (also a protected class)?

Which is a nonsense principle. Private companies should be either allowed to discriminate on whatever grounds they like or forced to treat all equally.

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