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Colorado's Religious Freedom Is a Rocky Mountain Lie

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  April 18, 2026 10:00 AM

I have to say that I admire how easily Democrats are able to lie about their record and stance on the issues, especially when it comes to religious freedom. They do it with such alacrity, it's akin to breathing.

Yesterday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis had the audacity to post on X about Religious Freedom Day, calling it a "core value of who we are in Colorado.

"Colorado is stronger because people of all faiths—and no faith—enjoy the freedom to live, worship, and gather according to our beliefs. That enduring commitment to religious freedom and mutual respect continues to define us as a state and nation," Polis wrote.

But Colorado's record on religious freedom, actual religious freedom, tells a different story.

We'll start in 2012, Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips was asked to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. Colorado didn't recognize same-sex marriage at the time, and Phillips — a devout Christian — didn't recognize it at all. He declined to make the cake. Instead of finding one of the dozens of other bakeries in the state, the couple filed a discrimination complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, accusing Phillips of violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.

For two years, Phillips was dragged through the civil rights process, and an administrative judge ruled against Phillips, dismissing his First Amendment claims of free speech and free exercise of religion. In 2014, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ordered Phillips to change his business policies, train his staff on public accommodations laws, and submit quarterly compliance reports.

The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the 2015 decision, and the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear Phillips' appeal.

In 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Phillips' case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and on June 4, 2018, ruled 7-2 in Phillips' favor. They said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission violated Phillips' First Amendment rights because the proceedings showed hostility towards Phillips' sincere religious beliefs.

Despite that, Phillips was targeted again by a trans customer, an attorney named Autumn Scardina, who wanted a cake to celebrate his gender transition. Phillips once again declined the order. Once again, lower courts ruled against Phillips, and the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed Scardina's lawsuit on procedural grounds in 2024 — a full 12 years after the first lawsuit.

In his second round with the courts, Phillips' legal team cited another case out of Colorado, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in its defense.

In that case, a Christian graphic designer (noticing a theme here?) wanted to expand her business to include wedding websites. Worried about the Colorado Civil Rights laws that dragged Jack Phillips through a legal quagmire, Smith filed a preemptive suit and, in 2023, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in her favor.

In 2020, Polis issued COVID-related restrictions that kept the state's liquor stores open and closed churches. Those churches were closed for weeks and then reopened under heavy restrictions. At the same time, widespread BLM protests happened in Denver and elsewhere that summer. High Plains Harvest Church challenged Polis' COVID capacity restrictions, but lost at SCOTUS.

And just last month, Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor who uses talk therapy, was handed an 8-1 victory at the Supreme Court, which found Colorado's ban on talk-based conversion therapy problematic. While the Supreme Court didn't overturn the state's conversion therapy ban outright, it did order lower courts to apply strict scrutiny to the case, as the ban — when applied to purely talk therapy — regulates speech based on viewpoint.

Everything that happened after January 2018 happened on Jared Polis' watch, mind you. 

So while he can pretend Colorado is a place for religious freedom, the reality is far different. Especially if you're a Christian.