Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
While Christian baker Jack Phillips was in the middle of a legal fight after the Colorado Civil Rights Commission sued him for declining to use his artistic talents to make a custom cake for a same-sex “wedding,” Autumn Scardina, a man pretending to be a woman, sued Phillips for also declining to make a custom “transitioning” cake” for him.
Scardina knew of Phillips’ case and his faith, of course, but the lawyer decided to harass him. He filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and a lawsuit against Phillips after the commission dismissed his complaint.
Phillips won at the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices ruled that the commission had treated Phillips unfairly and his religion with contempt. But it was a narrowly tailored decision that didn’t address the right of all Christian business owners to provide services they find objectionable.
Scardina claimed that Phillips engaged in unfair or deceptive trade practices when he declined to bake the cake and that Phillips discriminated him. A court last year dismissed the trade practices claim but ruled that Phillips discriminated against the man.
Phillips is back in court. He asked the Colorado Court of Appeals to uphold his First Amendment right not to be compelled to express a message he opposes.
“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their beliefs and conscience,” ADF Senior Counsel Jake Warner said. “Activists and state laws have threatened artists like Jack and graphic artist Lorie Smith because they can’t express messages on marriage and gender that violate their core beliefs. In this case, an activist attorney demanded that Jack create expressive cakes to test him and ‘correct the errors’ of his thinking. The attorney even promised to sue Jack again if the case is dismissed for any reason. Free speech is for everyone. The Constitution protects the freedom of every American to express ideas even if the government disagrees with those ideas.”
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Let’s find a LGBTQ Bakery and insist they Bake a Cake with Homophobic Phrases on it, then sue them to oblivion when they refuse and forcefully chase us out of Their Private Bakery!
Can Jack Phillips’ “artistic talent” argument be applied to a caterer/chef, photographer, interior decorator, tailor, dress designer, hair stylist etc. when it comes to an LGBTQ client(s)? An interesting case.