Man refuses to bake cake for gay couple opinion based

Supreme Court gave a boost to advocates of religious freedom on Monday, ruling that a Colorado baker cannot be forced to make a cake for a same-sex weddingin a case that involved marriage equality and protection from discrimination. But the opinion was a narrow one, applying to the specific facts of this case only.

It gave no hint as to how the court might decide future cases involving florists, bakers, photographers and other business owners who have cited religious and free-speech objections when refusing to serve gay and lesbian customers in the wake of the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision.

In the decision, the court said legal proceedings in Colorado had shown a hostility to the baker's religious views. Monday's ruling was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who also wrote the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision. But the ruling, which came during Pride Month, gave little guidance to the lower courts about how to balance those competing interests.

The decision was a victory for Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Denver, who has said that his cakes are works of art and that requiring him to bake them for same-sex weddings would force him to express a view that violated his religious beliefs. He runs his business guided by religious principles, closing on Sunday and refusing to make cakes containing alcohol or celebrating Halloween.

Inwhen David Mullins and Charlie Craig walked into his shop and asked him to bake a cake for a reception to celebrate their wedding, Phillips said, "I'm sorry, guys, I can't do that. What followed, Mullins said, "was this horrible pregnant pause while what was happening sunk in, and we were mortified.

After the couple filed a formal complaint, Colorado courts ruled that the state's public accommodation law, which bans discrimination by companies offering their services to the public, did not allow Phillips to refuse the gay couple's request. A reasonable person would assume that the cake expressed the message of the couple, not the baker, the courts said.

The ACLU, representing Mullins and Craig, said they never discussed with Phillips what kind of design, if any, they wanted on their cake, diminishing his claim that his freedom of expression was at stake. The court did not accept arguments that would have turned back the clock on equality by making our basic civil rights protections unenforceable, but reversed this case based on concerns specific to the facts here.

After Colorado's Civil Rights Commission said that Phillips could not discriminate by refusing to make cakes for same-sex weddings, he chose to stop baking wedding cakes for all customers, which he said cost him about 40 percent of his business. He had said a Supreme Court ruling in his favor would "declare to the world that my faith is not a scarlet letter.

IE 11 is not supported.

Baker who refused to make cake for gay wedding: 'I don't discriminate'

For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Skip to Content. NBC News Logo. Search Search. Profile My News Sign Out. Sign In Create your free profile. Sections U. Follow NBC News. Latest Stories U. Get more news Live on. By Pete Williams.