Anti-LGBTQ Baker Loses Appeal In Trans Cake Case

The Christian Post reports:

A three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled against Christian baker Jack Phillips, having concluded that he was wrong to refuse, on religious grounds, to bake a cake celebrating transgenderism. In a decision released Thursday, Judge Timothy Schutz authored the panel’s opinion affirming an earlier trial court decision against Phillips, concluding that the baker violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by not creating a cake to celebrate a person’s new trans identity.

The appeals court rejected Phillips’ claims that he was being forced to convey a message that went against his beliefs because the cake he was asked to make “expressed no message,” adding that “not all conduct constitutes speech.” The Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Phillips, denounced the appeals court’s decision and vowed to appeal it, considering part of a broader campaign of harassment against the Christian baker.

Read the full article. In 2018, Phillips won a limited ruling before the US Supreme Court in a separate case that did not set precedent. My report on his initial 2021 loss in the trans cake case is here.

Pray for Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop in Colorado, who is back in court this week defending his right to decline to design and create cakes celebrating things that are against his strongly-held religious beliefs as a Christian. https://t.co/op1E08hU5O

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 26, 2021