Christian Bakers, Gay Weddgs, and a Qutn for the Supreme Court | The New Yorker

Contents:

• U.S. SUPREME COURT BACKS CHRISTIAN BAKER WHO REBUFFED GAY UPLE
• SUPREME COURT TOSS LG AGAST BAKERS WHO REFED KE FOR GAY UPLE
• IN NARROW OPN, SUPREME COURT RUL FOR BAKER IN GAY-RIGHTS CASE
• THE COLORADO BAKERY THAT REFED TO SERVE A GAY COUPLE IS ABOUT TO GET A SUPREME COURT RULG
• 13 GAY BAKERI REFE TO MAKE TRADNAL MARRIAGE CAKE WH THE MSAGE: 'GAY MARRIAGE IS WRONG'
• COURT L AGAST OREGON BAKERS WHO REFED TO MAKE GAY WEDDG KE
• CHRISTIAN BAKERS, GAY WEDDGS, AND A QUTN FOR THE SUPREME COURT

U.S. SUPREME COURT BACKS CHRISTIAN BAKER WHO REBUFFED GAY UPLE

Supreme Court se June over his refal to make a weddg ke a gay uple based on his relig nvictns, he thought his legal battl wh the state of Colorado were over, acrdg to a now Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakhop Lakewood, Colorado, is facg a new urt fight, this one volvg a lawyer who asked him to bake a ke to celebrate the anniversary of her genr transn. Supreme Court on Monday hand a victory on narrow grounds to a Colorado baker who refed based on his Christian beliefs to make a weddg ke for a gay uple, stoppg short of settg a major precent allowg people to claim relig exemptns om anti-discrimatn jtic, a 7-2 cisn, said the Colorado Civil Rights Commissn showed an impermissible hostily toward relign when found that baker Jack Phillips vlated the state’s anti-discrimatn law by rebuffg gay uple David Mulls and Charlie Craig 2012. The cisn also did not addrs important claims raised the se cludg whether bakg a ke is a kd of exprsive act protected by the Constutn’s ee speech of the urt’s four liberals, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, joed the five nservative jtic the lg thored by Jtice Anthony Kennedy, who also wrote the landmark 2015 cisn legalizg gay marriage baker se beme a cultural flashpot the Uned Stat, unrsrg the tensns between gay rights proponents and nservative sis claimed a measure of victory.

The uple’s supporters noted that the lg embraced the importance of gay rights and ma clear that bs open to the public mt serve everyone.

“Our society has e to the regnn that gay persons and gay upl nnot be treated as social outsts or as ferr digny and worth, ” Kennedy Kennedy said the state missn’s hostily toward relign “was nsistent wh the First Amendment’s guarantee that our laws be applied a manner that is ntral toward relign. ”Kennedy said the missn led the oppose way three s brought agast bakers which the bs owners refed to bake k ntag msag that meaned gay people or same-sex marriage.

SUPREME COURT TOSS LG AGAST BAKERS WHO REFED KE FOR GAY UPLE

“The First Amendment prohibs ernments om discrimatg agast cizens on the basis of relig beliefs, ” Attorney General Jeff Ssns said a cisn ma clear that even if the urt ultimately l a future se that bakers or other bs that sell creative products such as florists and weddg photographers n avoid punishment unr anti-discrimatn laws, most bs open to the public would have no such the 50 stat, 21 cludg Colorado have anti-discrimatn laws protectg gay se marked a tt for Kennedy, who has thored signifint lgs that advanced gay rights but also is a strong advote for ee speech rights and relig eedom.

“The oute of s like this other circumstanc mt awa further elaboratn the urts, all the ntext of regnizg that the disput mt be rolved wh tolerance, whout undue disrpect to scere relig beliefs, and whout subjectg gay persons to digni when they seek goods and servic an open market, ” Kennedy a wrten dissent, Jtice Ruth Bar Gsburg, joed by fellow liberal Sonia Sotomayor, said what mattered was that Phillips would not provi a good or service to a same-sex uple that he would provi to a heterosexual ligatn, along wh siar s around the untry, was part of a nservative Christian backlash to the Supreme Court’s gay marriage lg. Mulls and Craig were planng their weddg Massachetts 2012 and wanted the ke for a receptn Colorado, where gay marriage was not yet legal. Phillips and others like him who believe that gay marriage is nsistent wh their Christian beliefs have said they should not be required to effectively endorse the practice.

IN NARROW OPN, SUPREME COURT RUL FOR BAKER IN GAY-RIGHTS CASE

The jtic on Thursday will nsir whether to hear an appeal by a Washgton state flower shop owner who refed to create a floral arrangement to celebrate a gay weddg, based on her Christian beliefs. On Monday, durg a virtual trial beg nducted by a state judge Denver, Srda said Phillips had mataed that, as a Christian, he opposed makg the gay uple’s weddg ke bee volved a relig ceremony but would sell any other type of product.

However, the jtic did not le on the larger issue of whether bs n voke relig objectns to refe service to gays or lbians. The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lg agast two Oregon bakers who refed to bake a weddg ke for a lbian uple, Melissa and Aaron Kle, ced relig beliefs as their reason for not providg servic for a gay weddg. WASHINGTON SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST FLORIST WHO REFUSED SERVICE FOR GAY COUPLE'S WEDDINGOn Monday, the Supreme Court sent the Kle se back down to a lower urt "for further nsiratn light of" their Colorado central disput the se -- which ps LGBT rights agast relig eedom nsiratns -- have yet to be addrsed by the Supreme Court.

THE COLORADO BAKERY THAT REFED TO SERVE A GAY COUPLE IS ABOUT TO GET A SUPREME COURT RULG

Kle then said the bakery do not make k for gay weddgs, urt documents 's mother, who was wh her, said Kle quoted the Bible when explag his Kles had to pay a $135, 000 judgment to the uple for discrimatg agast them vlatn of a state public acmodatns statute.

The se began when a same-sex uple Colorado — Charlie Craig and Dave Mulls — filed a plat wh the state civil-rights missn after baker Jack Phillips told them that he did not sign ctom k for gay upl.

Kennedy said is "unexceptnal" that Colorado law "n protect gay persons acquirg products and servic on the same terms and ndns that are offered to other members of the public, " but at the same time, "the law mt be applied a manner that is ntral toward relign. Moreover, the state law at the time afford storekeepers some latu to cle creatg specific msag they nsired offensive, and the Colorado missn had prevly allowed three different bakers to refe to put an anti-gay msage on a ke.

13 GAY BAKERI REFE TO MAKE TRADNAL MARRIAGE CAKE WH THE MSAGE: 'GAY MARRIAGE IS WRONG'

" Throughout the opn, Kennedy seemed to be balancg the ledger, tryg not to disturb public acmodatn laws like the one Colorado and reeratg that gay people may "not be treated as outsts. " While a member of the clergy clearly nnot be forced to nduct a weddg ceremony for a same-sex uple, vlatn of his relig views, Kennedy said, Colorado "n protect gay persons, jt as n protect other class of dividuals.

COURT L AGAST OREGON BAKERS WHO REFED TO MAKE GAY WEDDG KE

He closed by sayg that "the oute of s like this other circumstanc mt awa further elaboratn the urts, all the ntext of regnizg that the disput mt be rolved wh tolerance, whout undue disrpect to scere relig beliefs, and whout subjectg gay persons to digni when they seek goods and servic an open market. They argued that as the Colorado missn had prevly allowed bakers to refe to rate k wh anti-gay signs, the missn's cisn to le agast Phillips was herently nsistent and discrimated agast some relig groups. Supreme Court victory after refg on relig grounds to make a gay uple’s weddg ke a NBC Out on Twter, Facebook & Instagram.

Colorado Civil Rights Commissn is, at base, a se volvg a Christian baker and bakery owner who refed to make a weddg ke for a gay uple bee of their sexual orientatn.

Owner and baker Jack Phillips refed, explag that he do not support gay marriage bee go agast his relig fah. • The uple’s attorney, Jam Esseks, told The New Yorker an terview earlier this year that bs owners n believe whatever they want to believe, and say whatever they want to say, cludg, for example, “‘I thk gay people shouldn’t be able to get married. Top urt to hear baker's relig objectn to makg ke for gay uple [Rters]• Jtic to Hear Case on Relig Objectns to Same-Sex Marriage [NYT]• Cake Shop Fac Legal Actn For Refg to Make Anti LGBT Cake [E].

CHRISTIAN BAKERS, GAY WEDDGS, AND A QUTN FOR THE SUPREME COURT

| (Photo: Rters/David McNew)Dpe anti-discrimatn laws many stat that require Christian bakery owners to bake k for same-sex weddgs, 13 LGBT and gay-owned bakeri objected to one man's requt when he asked if they'd make a pro-tradnal marriage ke that would read "gay marriage is wrong. Shoebat set off on a vio experiment where he lled 13 bakeri, which are all eher known as gay-owned bakeri or bakeri that strongly support gay marriage, and told them that he was hostg a pro-tradnal marriage celebratn and that he need a ke that says "gay marriage is wrong. "Shoebat even lled a gay okie shop lled Hot Cookie San Francis and asked if they would make him a pizza-sized okie wh "gay marriage is wrong" wrten on .

After she told Shoebat that the bakery would not make the okie, Shoebat told her that the bakery mt not stand for equaly if they're refg to make a okie for a Christian who believ homosexualy is wrong. "Shoebat rpond by tellg her that although Christian bakers believe that gay marriage is morally wrong, they are still forced to make k for the same-sex weddgs.

"All of the homosexual activists California are workg to force Christian bs California to acquice to homosexual opn and thgs that they don't agree wh, " Shoebat asserted. "Technilly, you are discrimatg agast people like me, when you refe to make a ke that says 'gay marriage is wrong. Although every time Shoebat was nied and tried to start a bate about why the bakery was not standg for equaly, most of the reprentativ jt hung up on his poted ethil majory of short rpons that Shoebat recevied om bakery workers noted that his requt went agast their "belief" gay Christian bs owners have felt the stly impact of vlatg their state's anti-discrimatn laws after they nied service based on their biblil "belief" the tradnal fn of marriage, which stat that marriage is only between one man and one woman.