Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to review whether a Colorado baker discriminated against a gay couple by refusing to make their wedding cake on religious grounds.
The high court took up the case exactly two years after it legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Lower courts had ruled against Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, saying his right to exercise religious freedom did not outweigh the couple’s protection under anti-discrimination laws — decisions seen by activists as victories for gay rights.
But since its landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court’s makeup has shifted to the right, raising the possibility that it could rule in favor of Phillips.
Masterpiece Cakeshop is one of a number of businesses that have been successfully sued for discriminating against gay couples.
Charlie Craig and David Mullins filed a complaint under Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws after Phillips told them in 2012 he wouldn’t make them a wedding cake due to his religious objections to gay marriage.
Phillips argued that being required to make wedding cakes for gay couples violated his right to freedom of religion and his free speech rights as a cake “artist.”
In 2015, an appeals court in Colorado rejected Phillips’ stance, saying that requiring someone to comply with the law is not the same as compelling them to “endorse” something they don’t agree with.
“Masterpiece remains free to continue espousing its religious beliefs, including its opposition to same-sex marriage,” the court ruled.
However, it said, as a public business, it is prohibited “from picking and choosing customers based on their sexual orientation.”
A number of lower-court cases in recent years have consistently rejected people’s claims of their right to refuse services to same-sex couples getting married.
An Oregon bakery was ordered to pay $135,000 in damages in 2015 after refusing to bake a cake for a 2013 same-sex wedding.
In 2014, the Supreme Court refused to review a judgment against a New Mexico wedding photographer who refused to work for a lesbian couple in 2008.
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