The left has hounded artistic Colorado baker Jack Phillips for over a decade. It started back in 2012 when a gay couple demanded that he create a “gay wedding cake” with two figurine husbands on top.
Of course, the gay couple could have gotten their gay cake created by many other bakers. They chose Phillips not despite, but because, creating such a object was contrary to his religious beliefs.
Phillips told them he would happily create a cake for them - regardless of their sexual orientation. But he refused to create a special “gay cake” for them.
That’s an important point. Phillips refused to create a “gay” cake for them, just as he would have refused to create a gay cake for anyone else, and presumably would have refused to act or dress “gay” for them or anyone else.
Phillips did not refuse to sell a product to gays (which would probably be in violation of the Federal Civil Rights Acts). Rather, he refused to create a product that is gay.
The gay couple were something like a couple seeking out a Kosher restaurant, demanding that the Jewish chef cook up an elaborate pork dish, and then contending that they’d been discriminated against when told that pork is not on the menu.
It’s actually worse than that. The gay couple thought Phillips’ beliefs were not just discriminatory, but should be illegal. So, they schemed to establish that as a legal matter.
First, they brought an action against Phillips before the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and won. The case then went to a Colorado appellate court, and they won there too.
Phillips finally filed for review in the Colorado Supreme Court, where all seven Justices are Democrat appointees. Those Colorado Justices refused to even hear the case on the grounds there was zero merit to Phillips’ appeal.
Then Phillips filed for an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the court of last resort in America, and they accept only a few percent of the appeals lodged there.
To everyone’s surprise, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Phillips’ case was worth hearing. Not only that, but after hearing the case they reversed the Colorado decision. They decided that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had exhibited an unfair antipathy toward Phillips’ religious-based actions.
Let that sink in. The U.S. Supreme Court – the highest court in the land – found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and state courts had shown six years of unfair antipathy toward Phillips’ ordinary Christian religious beliefs.
At least they didn’t feed him to the lions. But what happened next was almost as bad, as anyone who’s been a defendant in a lawsuit will tell you.
On the very day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in favor of Phillips, a self-described “devil worshipper” demanded by email that Phillips bake a cake celebrating the devil’s birthday – complete with a dildo on top. (It’s not clear what is bedeviling about dildos.)
As before, Phillips politely explained that he could not bake such a cake because it was contrary to his religious beliefs.
Before then, on the very day that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Phillips’ appeal of the “gay cake” case, someone came into Phillips’ bakery and demanded that he create a “transgender cake” depicting transgender stuff.
You can see the pattern.
As before, Phillips refused to create the “transgender cake.” As before, the transgender person brought an action before the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. As before, he/she won. And as before, the case eventually went up to the Colorado Supreme Court.
This time, the Colorado Supreme Court took the case (perhaps feeling stung by the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of the Colorado decisions the earlier time).
But the Colorado Supreme Court dodged a decision on the merits. Instead, they dismissed the case on a technicality.
It was a win for Phillips, but it didn’t establish any precedent for other Christian bakers or anyone else who wants protection for his religious beliefs.
Pity the Colorado Supreme Court. They were faced with either (1) defying the earlier U.S. Supreme Court decision by ruling against Phillips, or (2) defying their woke principles by ruling in his favor.
Ah, they were torn between the law of the land and the law of the woke. They found a clever way to choose neither.
But trust me, they’ll be back. The devil-worshipping transexuals, the kangaroo state courts and “civil rights” commissions stacked with Democrat appointees, and the rest of the totalitarian wokerati – they’ll all be back, lawless as ever.
They want to outlaw religious beliefs that they don’t believe in, and that’s almost all of them.
Lawfare: A fine example of why we need "loser pays" in America, which would put an end to this clear abuse of the legal process. As Mark Steyn commented years ago during one of his many legal battles, "The process is the punishment". Yes, the cases are total crap and most will eventually be dismissed on their utter lack of merit. But the financial and emotional toll they take on the defendant is not compensated for. The message the left is sending with these is clear: Conform to our agenda, or else we will litigate you out of existence. It needs to stop.
Why doesn't anyone walk into a halal shop and demand a ham sandwich?
A vote for Kamala and Democrats is a vote for more of this, much more.