Christian baker loses appeal over transgender birthday cake case
A Colorado appellate court has ruled against a baker who appeared in court once again for declining to make a cake that contradicts his religious beliefs.
While Jack Phillips’ successful U.S. Supreme Court case concerned his refusal to make a same-sex wedding cake, he now faces a civil lawsuit for declining to make a cake celebrating a purported gender transition of a transgender-identifying attorney.
In a Thursday decision, a Colorado Court of Appeals three-judge panel sided with Autumn Scardina, a man who identifies as a transgender woman. Scardina said Phillips and his Lakewood, Colorado, Masterpiece Cakeshop discriminated when he declined to bake a pink cake with blue frosting to celebrate Scardina’s purported gender change.
Phillips has ruled out making various kinds of cakes he says would violate his Christian religious beliefs. He is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group, which will appeal the case to the Colorado Supreme Court.
“Free speech is for everyone. No one should be forced to express a message that violates their core beliefs,” Jake Warner, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel, said Jan. 26.
“Over a decade ago, Colorado officials began targeting Jack, misusing state law to force him to say things he does not believe,” Warner said. “Then an activist attorney continued that crusade. This cruelty must stop. One need not agree with Jack’s views to agree that all Americans should be free to say what they believe, even if the government disagrees with those beliefs.”
Phillips’ attorneys had appealed a 2021 trial court’s judgment in favor of Scardina, ruling that Phillips and his bakery violated state anti-discrimination law.
The Jan. 26 appellate court decision, written by Judge Thomas J. Schutz, sided with Scardina’s claim to have been denied service because of a transgender identity, in violation of the right to be free from discrimination in a place of public accommodation.
Schutz said the defendants “contend their decision not to make a cake for Scardina was based on their firm and sincere religious beliefs and the right to be free from compelled speech that would violate those beliefs.”
However, Schutz rejected the argument that the Colorado law compelled speech in this case.
