A Christian baker from Colorado who has been fighting for his religious freedom in US courts for 12-years has had a major victory. The state’s highest court dismissed a case against Jack Phillips who owns the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Denver. He was sued after declining to make a cake celebrating a gender transition, seven years ago. Mr. Phillips’ lawyers claim his legal battles are now over.
CBN News reports the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed the case because the attorney who was targeting Mr. Phillips did not follow the correct process in suing him, according to his lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
“This win ends 12-plus years of harassment. Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through the courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jake Warner.
“Free speech is for everyone. As the US Supreme Court held in 303 Creative, the government cannot force artists to express messages they don’t believe. In this case, an attorney demanded that Jack create a custom cake that would celebrate and symbolise a transition from male to female. Because that cake admittedly expresses a message, and because Jack cannot express that message for anyone, the government cannot punish Jack for declining to express it. The First Amendment protects that decision,” Mr. Warner explained.
The reference to 303 Creative was America’s highest court’s 2023 decision in favour of Colorado graphic artist Lorie Smith who had declined to design wedding websites for same-sex couples because it violated her religious beliefs. ADF filed a supplemental notice with the Colorado Supreme Court, asking it to apply that ruling and similarly affirm Mr. Phillips’ free-speech rights in this case.
ADF claims activists and Colorado officials have misused the same state law that was at issue in 303 Creative to punish Mr. Phillips for more than a decade. Since 2012, he has been targeted non-stop and has continually found himself in court defending his religious beliefs. In 2018, he won a partial victory at the US Supreme Court after declining to make a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding because of his religious beliefs.
“No American should be bullied or banished from the marketplace simply for living and working consistently with their faith. Opponents of religious freedom want to strip away our freedom to live and work consistently with our deeply held beliefs. And they’re going to extreme lengths to punish those like Jack, who are willing to stand for their faith.” the ADF has said previously.
The Federalist writes: “Mr. Phillips has been the victim of lawfare since 2012 — all for being a Christian. A same-sex couple requested a custom wedding cake, but he informed them he could not create a cake celebrating their sexual preference since the cake would express a view that violated his religious beliefs. Notably, Mr. Phillips was more than happy to do business with the couple for any other item in his shop.”
“Jack Phillips serves all people. He will gladly sell anything in his shop to anyone, including people who identify as LGBT. But what he won’t do is propagate messages that violate his core beliefs. That’s why he’s also refused to create custom cakes celebrating Halloween or cakes advocating for the use of marijuana. He’s even declined to create cakes that denigrate people, including people who identify as LGBT.”
