U.S. Supreme Court backs Christian baker who rebuffed gay uple | Rters

Contents:

• SUPREME COURT CIS COLORADO GAY WEDDG KE SE: A TIMELE OF EVENTS
• US SUPREME COURT BACKS COLORADO BAKER'S GAY WEDDG KE SNUB
• IN NARROW OPN, SUPREME COURT RUL FOR BAKER IN GAY-RIGHTS CASE
• SUPREME COURT TOSS LG AGAST BAKERS WHO REFED KE FOR GAY UPLE
• US SUPREME COURT QUTNS BIAS 'GAY WEDDG KE' SE
• U.S. SUPREME COURT BACKS CHRISTIAN BAKER WHO REBUFFED GAY UPLE
• IN NARROW LG, SUPREME COURT GIV VICTORY TO BAKER WHO REFED TO MAKE KE FOR GAY WEDDG
• SUPREME COURT L FAVOR OF BAKER WHO WOULD NOT MAKE WEDDG KE FOR GAY UPLE
• GAY WEDDG KE LG REAFFIRMS THAT BS N’T DISCRIMATE
• ‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY

SUPREME COURT CIS COLORADO GAY WEDDG KE SE: A TIMELE OF EVENTS

Cisn to take on the se reflected renewed energy among the urt's nservative jtic, whose ranks have recently been bolstered by the addn of Jtice Neil Gorsuch to the high Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakhop Lakewood, Colo., cled to make a ke for the weddg celebratn of two gay men 2012. COLORADO BAKER RECEIVES DEATH THREATS AND HATE FOR REFUSING TO MAKE GAY WEDDING CAKEPhillips was orred to change s pany polici as well as offer “prehensive staff trag” to employe.

SUPREME COURT IS IN SESSION WITH GORSUCH ON BOARD, GAY WEDDING CAKE CASE ON DECK“We are askg the U. "The laws and the Constutn n, and some stanc mt, protect gay persons and gay upl the exercise of their civil rights, but relig and philosophil objectns to gay marriage are protected views and some stanc protected forms of exprsn, " the Court said s cisn. "While is unexceptnal that Colorado law n protect gay persons acquirg products and servic on the same terms and ndns as are offered to other members of the public, the law mt be applied a manner that is ntral toward relign.

"In s cisn, the Supreme Court did not ci whether a bs has the right to refe to serve gay and lbian people Bar Gsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, two of the Court's more liberal jtic, Associated Prs ntributed to this report. Image source, RtersImage ptn, Jack Phillips has temporarily stopped makg weddg kThe US Supreme Court has led favour of a baker Colorado who refed to make a weddg ke for a gay Colorado state urt had found that baker Jack Phillips' cisn to turn away David Mulls and Charlie Craig 2012 was unlawful the Supreme Court led on Monday a 7-2 vote that that cisn had vlated Mr Phillips' rights.

US SUPREME COURT BACKS COLORADO BAKER'S GAY WEDDG KE SNUB

The nservative Christian ced his relig beliefs refg rights groups feared a lg agast the uple uld set a precent for treatg gay marriag differently om heterosexual the Supreme Court's verdict stead foc specifilly on Mr Phillips' se. The cisn do not state that florists, photographers, or other servic n now refe to work wh gay lg three years after the Supreme Court ma same-sex marriage the law of the land s landmark Obergefell v Hodg source, Getty ImagImage ptn, David Mulls (left) and Charlie Craig wanted a weddg ke to celebrate their planned marriageWhat did Monday's lg say?

Jtice Anthony Kennedy wrote that while Colorado law "n protect gay persons acquirg products and servic... A siar 'gay ke' row is ongog Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court Belfast has yet to release an opn on a lower urt lg that found the owners of a bakery discrimated agast a gay activist for refg to bake a ke wh the slogan "Support Gay Marriage" row began May 2014, when gay activist Gareth Lee placed an orr for a ke wh the gay marriage days later, the Christian-owned Ashers bakery ncelled the orr sayg "would ntradict their relig beliefs".

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

But the hight urt the land is not cidg the big issue the se – whether a bs n refe to serve gay and lbian Supreme Court jtic' limed lg Monday turns on what the urt scribed as anti-relig bias on the Colorado Civil Rights Commissn when led agast baker Jack Phillips.

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

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.

US SUPREME COURT QUTNS BIAS 'GAY WEDDG KE' SE

" 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. 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 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. 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.

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

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.

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. ”In McPherson’s re-tellg to Bowman-Cryer and her fiancee, Lrel, that msage morphed somewhat: She said Kle had lled them both “abomatns” bee they were gay.

In a 2018 cisn, the urt tossed out a Colorado lg agast a baker who refed to serve a gay uple on relig grounds, fdg the state had shown bias agast his relign while makg s cisn.

IN NARROW LG, SUPREME COURT GIV VICTORY TO BAKER WHO REFED TO MAKE KE FOR GAY WEDDG

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, David Mulls (left) and Charlie Craig wanted a weddg ke to celebrate their planned marriageThe US Supreme Court appeared divid after hearg heated arguments the se of a Colorado baker who refed to make a weddg ke for a gay Jack Phillips turned away David Mulls and Charlie Craig makg such a ke 2012, sayg was agast his Christian belief. "Jtice Kennedy, a strong advote for ee speech rights, add that the lg had "neher been tolerant nor rpectful of Mr Phillips's relig beliefs" he also raised ncerns about whether lg favour of the baker would lead to more discrimatn agast the gay muny durg the extend 80-mute hearg.

SUPREME COURT L FAVOR OF BAKER WHO WOULD NOT MAKE WEDDG KE FOR GAY UPLE

Mr Phillips cid to take the se - known as Masterpiece Cakhop v Colorado Civil Rights Commissn - to the US Supreme argu that his k are artistic enavours, and therefore guarante of eedom of speech and exprsn the US nstutn protect him om beg forced to make creatns that exprs a msage he lawyers also say that he did not vlate public acmodatn laws that ban discrimatn bee he did not throw the gay uple out of the shop outright and refe to serve source, RtersImage ptn, Jack Phillips has temporarily stopped makg weddg kMr Phillips is reprented by Alliance Defendg Freedom - a nservative Christian legal Amerin Civil Liberti Unn (ACLU) reprents Mr Mulls and Mr ramifitns uld this have? A verdict favour of Mr Phillips uld open the door for a number of bs to voke relig beliefs and refe certa servic to gay experts say that bs uld e the se to say they have a siar right to turn way, for stance, terracial upl if this clash wh their relig lawyer Louise Mellg said opposn lawyers were "askg for a nstutnal right to discrimate". 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.

GAY WEDDG KE LG REAFFIRMS THAT BS N’T DISCRIMATE

“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.

‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY

“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. 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.