Since Colorado baker Jack Phillips won his case at the Supreme Court in 2018, the Left hasn't given up trying to force him to deny his faith. The state government went after him again shortly after the 7-2 ruling in his favor at the high court. Phillips didn't stop fighting, though, and the state eventually gave up. But still, the legal battles continue — and Alliance Defending Freedom, the group representing Phillips, is continuing to stand by his side.
ADF has said it will appeal after a state judge ruled that Phillips violated Colorado's anti-discrimination law by not making a cake for a transgender woman that was blue on the outside and pink on the inside.
"The anti-discrimination laws are intended to ensure that members of our society who have historically been treated unfairly, who have been deprived of even the every-day right to access businesses to buy products, are no longer treated as 'others,'" wrote Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones.
ADF's General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said in a statement that Phillips is repeatedly targeted because he and others like him "won't promote messages on marriage and sexuality that violate their core convictions."
"In this case, an activist attorney demanded Jack create custom cakes in order to 'test' Jack and 'correct the errors' of his thinking, and the activist even threatened to sue Jack again if the case is dismissed for any reason," said Waggoner. "We will appeal this decision and continue to defend the freedom of all Americans to peacefully live and work according to their deeply held beliefs without fear of punishment."
The latest trial started Monday in Colorado state court. It dates to 2017, when Autumn Scardina called Mr. Phillips’s shop. She requested a custom cake—pink on the inside, blue on the outside—reflecting her gender transition. When the shop refused, she complained to the commission.
The commission pursued the case but dropped it in 2019 after Mr. Phillips filed a federal lawsuit against the state. Ms. Scardina then filed her own suit. Given that Mr. Phillips has already lost 40% of his business because he has stopped making his signature custom wedding cakes, these suits are plainly aimed at harassing him into submission. [...]
In her court filing, Ms. Scardina says she asked for a birthday cake, not a cake celebrating her transition, and accuses Mr. Phillips of refusing her because she is transgender. But her story has shifted. In her original complaint to the commission, she wrote that she’d told the bakery the design was “intended for the celebration of my transition from male to female.”
After Masterpiece turned down this cake, Ms. Scardina called to request another. This one would feature Satan smoking a joint. Mr. Phillips declined, again because of the message.
“Jack didn’t single Scardina out for being transgender,” Ms. Waggoner says. “He wouldn’t bake cakes with those messages for anyone.” This is a baker who won’t even make Halloween cakes, she adds, and serves everyone regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
It’s not clear exactly why Ms. Scardina wanted a cake featuring Satan, apart from provoking him. ... (WSJ)
Commenting on the ruling, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called it "religious persecution. Naked & unabashed."
Shameful. This is religious persecution. Naked & unabashed.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 16, 2021
And it is lawless disregard of binding Supreme Court precedent. https://t.co/6vLc5zo0N5