{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Yes","color":"#624960","stance":"yes"},{"text":"Maybe","color":"#edb723","stance":"maybe"},{"text":"No","color":"#4ac6ec","stance":"no"}],"id":7403,"title":"Should Masterpiece Cakeshop's Owner Have to Bake a Cake for a Transgender Woman?","html_content":"\n

by Causes | 8.16.18

What’s the story?

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Colorado baker Jack Phillips – who won a Supreme Court case over his refusal to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple – has launched another legal challenge against state officials who are saying he violated the law by refusing to serve a transgender woman.

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What’s the backstory?

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In their complaint, attorneys for the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner allege that shortly after Phillips’ SCOTUS victory, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission informed the baker that he’d violated state law by refusing to bake a cake for Autumn Scardina. The Colorado lawyer had requested a custom pastry to celebrate the 7th anniversary of her coming out as transgender.
Phillips refused to bake the cake on religious grounds.

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\"That's a cake I can't create for anybody,\" Phillips told Colorado Public Radio.\n

\"I know the Bible says that God created male and female and that we don't get to choose that, and we don't get to change that,\" Phillips told CPR. \"And I don't feel like the government has a right to compel me to participate in creating a cake that promotes that message.\"

What are Phillips’ lawyers saying?

Conservative outlet The Daily Signal pointed out that Colorado “has not found probable cause when other bakers refused to create custom cakes, including those opposing same-sex weddings.”
Kristen Waggoner, senior vice president for Alliance Defending Freedom – the firm representing Phillips – said in a formal statement that:

“The arbitrary basis on which the commission is applying the law makes it clear that they are simply targeting Jack because they don’t like his religious beliefs. Jack shouldn’t have to fear government hostility when he opens his shop for business each day. We’re asking the court to put a stop to that.”

What are LGBTQ groups saying?

Daniel Ramos of the LGBTQ advocacy organization One Colorado said in a statement:

What do you think?

When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Phillips, it stated that \"some future controversy involving facts similar to these\" could be decided the opposite way.

Should private businesses be required to serve all customers, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity? Would such a requirement violate a person’s First Amendment rights? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: timyee / iStock)

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