Cake Shop Owner Appeals Ruling Forcing Him to Sell Cakes for Same-Sex Ceremonies

Attorneys for the owner of a cake shop in Colorado filed an appeal last week to a ruling that the shop must sell wedding cakes to same sex couples.

The appeal comes about a month after a judge ruled that Masterpiece cake shop owner Jack Phillips discriminated against Charlie and David Mullins, who in 2012 asked Phillips to make a cake for their wedding reception.

Phillips, who is a Christian, told them he could not make the cake because of his religious beliefs.

Craig and Mullins, who planned to marry in Massachusetts, filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. Then, the Colorado Attorney General’s offices filed another complaint against the cake shop.

"The undisputed facts show that respondents (Phillips) discriminated against complainants because of their sexual orientation by refusing to sell them a wedding cake for their same-sex marriage," wrote Administrative Law Judge Robert N. Spencer in his decision in December.

After the ruling, hundreds of supporters turned out at the shop to support the owner.

"America was founded on the fundamental freedom of all citizens to live and work without fear of government punishment," said lead counsel Nicolle Martin, an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney for Phillips. "Jack simply exercised the long-cherished freedom to not speak by declining to promote a false view of marriage through his creative work. It's outrageous that the government would turn its guns on Jack and threaten him with a potential jail sentence unless he says and does what the government demands."

Publication Date: January 8, 2013.