WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court today announced it will review a decision from the Colorado Court of Appeals that found that a cake shop discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to sell them a wedding cake.
In 2012, Colorado residents David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop to order a wedding cake. Mullins and Craig planned to marry in Massachusetts and then celebrate with family and friends back home. Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips informed the couple that, because of his religious beliefs, it was his standard business practice to refuse to provide cakes for same-sex weddings. Phillips had turned away several other couples for the same reason.
“This has always been about more than a cake. Businesses should not be allowed to violate the law and discriminate against us because of who we are and who we love,” said Mullins. His husband, Craig, added, “While we’re disappointed that the courts continue debating the simple question of whether LGBT people deserve to be treated like everyone else, we hope that our case helps ensure that no one has to experience being turned away simply because of who they are.”
“We were surprised,” Kristen Waggoner, general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious legal group representing the baker, said in an interview with BuzzFeed News on Monday morning. The high court had been silent on the case for months, leading many legal experts to believe the court would reject it.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Colorado represent Mullins and Craig in the case. Under Colorado law, businesses open to the public like Masterpiece Cakeshop may not refuse service based on factors including race, sex, national origin, or sexual orientation. After Mullins and Craig won, the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal.
“The law is squarely on David and Charlie’s side because when businesses are open to the public, they’re supposed to be open to everyone,” said James Esseks, director of the ACLU’s LGBT Project. “While the right to one’s religious beliefs is fundamental, a license to discriminate is not. Same-sex couples like David and Charlie deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else, and we’re ready to take that fight all the way to the Supreme Court.”
“I’ll make you birthday cakes, shower cakes, sell you cookies and brownies, I just don’t make cakes for same-sex weddings,” court records say Phillips told the men.
“The weight of this case is about more than a wedding cake – this decision could have devastating long-term ramifications on the rights of LGBTQ Americans around employment, housing, and public accommodations in their communities and across the entire nation,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD “Using religion as a weapon to harm others flies in the face of American values and is just an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ people because of who they are. At a time when a majority of Americans do not support such harmful laws, LGBTQ and fair-minded Americans must make their voices heard as this case moves to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Last week, a study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that over a majority of Americans oppose anti-LGBTQ discriminatory laws. Close to sixty-one percent of Americans oppose allowing small business owners to refuse to provide products or services to LGBTQ people on religious grounds with only 50% of evangelical Protestants, 42% of Hispanic Protestants, and 25% of Black Protestants voicing support of these anti-LGBTQ measures.
