Justices to decide clash of religious faith, gay rights
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices agreed Monday to hear an appeal from the owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to create and design a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
The case pits conservative Christian beliefs against gay rights, and the court will decide whether some business owners may cite their religious views as a reason for refusing to serve same-sex couples.
No federal law requires businesses to serve all customers without regard to their sexual orientation, but 21 states have “public accommodations” laws that prohibit such discrimination against gays and lesbians. They include California and six other states in the West, Illinois and three other states in the Upper Midwest, and 10 states on the East Coast from Maryland to Maine. No state in the South or on the Great Plains has such a law.
Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., was charged with violating the state’s antidiscrimination law, which says businesses open to the public may not deny service to customers based on their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.
The state commission held that his refusal to make the wedding cake amounted to discriminatory conduct, and state courts upheld the decision.
But Phillips appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing he deserved a religious exemption based on the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. His lawyers described him as a “cake artist” who will “not create cakes celebrating any marriage that is contrary to his understanding of biblical teaching.” They also said he has refused to make cakes to celebrate Halloween or created baked goods that have an “antiAmerican or antifamily themes” or carry profane messages.
In 2012, he said he politely declined to make a wedding cake for Charles Craig and David Mullins, who had planned to marry in Massachusetts but then have a reception in their home state of Colorado.
They lodged a complaint with the state civil rights commission, which ruled against Phillips and ordered him to provide wedding cakes on an equal basis for same-sex couples. His lawyers say he refused to comply while his appeal proceeded.
“They said you have to create cakes for same-sex couples, so he removed himself from the market. He chose to stop making wedding cakes,” said Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, who appealed on his behalf.