Summary: The Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples are allowed to marry in every state but the question of whose freedom will be protected from discrimination is just beginning to be decided.
A baker in Denver, Colorado declined to make a cake for a gay couple celebrating their marriage back in 2012. Jack Phillips is happy to serve gays and lesbians in his store but when it comes down to marriage, he believes it is between a man and a woman so he cannot be involved in something that goes against his beliefs.
As Phillips and other wedding service providers are finding out, religious beliefs mean nothing. Appeals courts across the country have been ruling that refusing a service to gay couples is an act of discrimination. The lawyer for the ACLU states “in America, no one should be turned away from a shop or restaurant because of who they are or who they love.”
Phillips’ lawyer, Jeremy Tedesco claims the judges do not understand the point that “he objects to the message, not to their protected status.” Tedesco also states that “business owners have a right-especially when they’re engaged in expression to run their business in accordance with their beliefs. …When they’re engaged in expression, they may decline to create an expression that violates their convictions.”
The case will probably now head to the Colorado Supreme Court and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court because the case deals with First Amendment rights. The ACLU is trying to argue that once you open a business, you no longer have any First Amendment rights.
Tedesco works with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit Christian legal aid group. They reported that when a Christian asked for a cake to be made that celebrated traditional marriage, bakers were allowed to turn him away.
Photo: wnd.com