Earlier this year the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop is required to make cakes celebrating “gender transitions.”
The court said Phillips’ refusal to make a cake requested by Autumn Scardina for a celebration of a “gender transition” did not constitute free speech. The court also ruled that it is illegal to refuse service based on sexual orientation.
The court concluded that “creating a pink cake with blue frosting is not inherently expressive and any message or symbolism it provides to an observer would not be attributed to the baker.”
Phillips’ cake shop initially agreed to make the cake, but then refused after Scardina explained that the cake was going to be used as part of his celebration regarding a “gender transition.” Phillips said his cake shop serves all people, and would have made another cake for Scardina, but he refuses to express certain messages with his cakes.
Scardina, a Colorado-based attorney who pretends to be a woman, claims to be a “fellow believer” with Jack Phillips, according to a June 2021 article on the website Them.us.
“I disagreed with his [Phillips’] ultimate position,” Scardina said, “but some part of me understood how difficult it must be…to watch the world change on him. I wanted to believe him.”
Phillips told Fox News that Scardina later requested a cake depicting “Satan smoking marijuana.”
“Scardina has admitted in court that these cakes were to ‘correct the errors’ of my thinking,” Phillips said during a Fox News interview. “And it was a setup and it was intentional and it was staged in a specific way. And Scardina also swore under oath that if I win this case, or if it’s dismissed, the very next day I would get another phone call, with another cake, and we would start all over again.”
Based on the Court of Appeals ruling, Phillips was fined $500, the highest amount possible under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. Now he is appealing the case to the Colorado Supreme Court with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
“Free speech is for everyone. No one should be forced to express a message that violates their core beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jake Warner, who argued before the court on behalf of Phillips in Scardina v. Masterpiece Cakeshop. “Over a decade ago, Colorado officials began targeting Jack, misusing state law to force him to say things he does not believe. Then an activist attorney continued that crusade. This cruelty must stop.”
In 2018, Phillips appealed another case – this one regarding his refusal to make a cake for a homosexual “wedding” – and won a partial victory in the U.S. Supreme Court. He might find himself there again, if the Colorado Supreme Court rules against him and he appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Jack has been targeted and punished for declining to design a custom cake celebrating a ‘gender transition,’ which sends a message he doesn’t believe,” an email from ADF said. “This is wrong. And Jack won’t back down. He isn’t ashamed of his beliefs, and because of his trust in the Lord, he continues to persevere.”
You are doing the right thing before our Lord, Mr. Phillips. I’ll be praying for you and your attorney. May you win your case.