Another lawsuit for the Colorado baker for rejecting again a transgender woman birthday cake. In 2018 this baker won victory at the U.S. Supreme Court for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
The birthday cake was attempted to order same day in 2017 by Autumn Scardina. To honor of her gender transition, Scardina an attorney, requested the cake to be pink from the inside and blue from the outside.
Scardina’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of cases around the U.S. An issue which remained unsettled with LGBTQ people right against merchants’ religious objections.
Scardina said Phillips had maintained that, as a Christian, he opposed making the gay couple’s wedding cake because it involved a religious ceremony but would sell any other type of product. This was made during a virtual trial being conducted by a state judge in Denver on Monday.
She added she wanted to find out if he really meant it after hearing about the court’s announcement so she called Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop to place the order. Of course, typical trouble making Lefty who can’t just leave this man alone to run his business.
Phillips lawyer, Sean Gates, said Phillips’refusal in opening arguments, to make Scardina’s cake was about its message, not discriminating against Scardina, echoing assertions made in Phillips’legal battle over his refusal to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins in 2012. Due this media attention since then, he could not create a cake with a message he disagreed with, his lawyer said. “The message would be that he agrees that a gender transition is something to be celebrated,” said Gates, who noted later that Phillips had objected to making cakes with other messages he opposed, including Halloween items.
Scardina filed a complaint against Phillips, before filing her lawsuit, with the state, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found probable cause that Phillips had discriminated against her. A federal lawsuit against Colorado, accusing it of waging a “crusade to crush” filed by Phillips to pursue the complaint.
Lawyers for the state and Phillips agreed to drop both cases under a settlement in March 2019 to pursue a lawsuit on her own. During that time, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said both sides agreed it was not in anyone’s best interest to move forward with the cases.
It was ruled by U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed anti-religious bias when it sanctioned Phillips for refusing to make the same-sex wedding cake for Craig and Mullins. However, the justices did not rule on the larger issue of whether businesses can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gays or lesbians.
The court is currently considering a related issue in a case over whether a Catholic social services agency can refuse to work with same-sex couples as foster parents in Philadelphia.
Sources: News Hour First, USA Today