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Published On: Thu, Jun 5th, 2014

Christian baker, Jack Phillips, ordered by court to make cake for gay wedding

Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission ordered a Christian baker to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, ruling his religious objections did not supercede the state’s anti-discrimination statutes.
 
"Lesbian" wedding mock-cake at the Roma Gay Pride in 2008. Picture by Stefano Bolognini via wikimedia commons.

“Lesbian” wedding mock-cake at the Roma Gay Pride in 2008. Picture by Stefano Bolognini via wikimedia commons.

The unanimous ruling from the seven-member commission upheld an administrative law judge’s decision in December that Jack Phillips violated the state’s civil rights law when he refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. The gay couple sued.

 
Phillips, a devout Christian who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop in a Denver suburb, said the decision violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise. “I will stand by my convictions until somebody shuts me down,” he told reporters after the ruling.
 
The commission disagreed, ruling that religious liberty does not go beyond beliefs to practice.
 
“I can believe anything I want, but if I’m going to do business here, I’d ought to not discriminate against people,” Commissioner Raju Jaram said.
 
The panel issued its decision verbally, ordering Phillips to “stop discriminating against gay people,” document any customers he refuses to serve, provide “anti-discrimination training” for his staff, and report quarterly for two years.
 
Phillips said his bakery has been so overwhelmed by supporters eager to buy cookies and brownies that he does not currently make wedding cakes. His legal counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, are considering an appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
 
The couple who sued Phillips, Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, described themselves as “thrilled” by the ruling. Gay marriage remains illegal in Colorado, but state law prohibits businesses from refusing to serve customers based on sexual orientation. Phillips told the men he would bake them any kind of cake other than a wedding cake.
 
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries also ruled a Christian couple can’t refuse to bake cakes for same-sex weddings. The couple’s storefront shop closed in 2013 after LGBT boycotts, threats, and vandalism.
 
 
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  1. Christian bakers refuse Bert and Ernie ‘Support Gay Marriage’ cake, may get sued - The Global Dispatch says:

    […] Colorado man lost his battle in court for refusing on religious grounds and Oregon’s Sweet Melissa’s was swept into a media […]

  2. Hugh1 says:

    Ray, I wonder if the ‘Christian’ cake maker will bake you a cake.

  3. Hugh1 says:

    Enough grandstanding for crying out loud! I am sick of hearing about this guy and his wife. Does he sell wedding cakes to non-virgins, adulterers, and fornicators? He’s willing to sell cookies to gays but not wedding cakes? Nutjob. Loser. I just wish this guy would fix cars. Oh, then he won’t fix gay cars … I have no sympathy for this bigot and I wish he would leave our state before he uses his religion to go on our welfare. Good riddance!

    • Ray says:

      So you prove to be an equal or greater bigot, forcing him to compromise his beliefs to be politically correct. If you hate the man, don’t buy his products and he’ll suffer accordingly financially. I never thought I’d see those seeking “tolerance” becoming more like fascists.

      • Hugh1 says:

        Ray, being gay is what you are, it isn’t what you do – like baking a cake. You cannot become gay, that is impossible. Just so you know, your biggest ‘sin’ so far is to discriminate against a person for how he or she is born. Our ‘Christian’ baker had a choice and he made it – that’s his problem. He may think that he is the “Jack Phillips” that Jesus appointed in the New Testament as his personal assistant, but I assure you that he is not. If you want to discriminate against Jews, Christians, Mormons, atheists, cake-makers, auto mechanics, or gays, please don’t come to Colorado. So, Coloradan’s are “becoming more like fascists?” I think not, try compassionate members of the human race.

        • Ray says:

          When is sexuality not a behavior? You are born male or female – that is all. Everything else is a behavior. They may have been born with desires, but doesn’t mean you act on everyone of them. Your sexual behavior, gay or straight (or abstinence) is the choice, not the desire. Loving all humans is the commandment NOT their behavior.

          The Bible is our instruction manual to moderate our behavior.

          Re Facism: Yes, you are. You are using the power of the government to control people. In America he has the right to be a complete bigot and fail accordingly. Conforming to a political correct narrative to comfort the feelings of two citizens is no way to run a country. Why wouldn’t the gay men go somewhere else and announce to everyone they know that Jack Phillips doesn’t like us, NEVER go there – and instead, go over “HERE” to a baker who does support them.

          Is it too difficult to find a baker in Colorado? Is it even more difficult to find one that will cater to homosexuals?

          The discrimmination laws are to protect the Americans NOT punish business owners who practice a certain religion. Muslims must make Jesus is God cakes, invitations and open up their halls to Christian weddings while gay softball leagues MUST include heterosexual players because everything is all inclusive.

          While you tell yourselves you are compassionate in Colorado, you’ll wake up to a government who will shut down any business not conforming to the narrative of the day. What is the tragedy is the death of “Freedom of conscience” in America….or at least in Colorado

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