The gay couple who were denied a cake
for a wedding reception say they felt “humiliated.”
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear
arguments in the case on Tuesday.
In 2012, Jack Phillips, the owner of
Denver-based Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused to consider baking a cake
for Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig. The men married in Massachusetts
and wanted to buy a cake from Phillips for their Denver reception.
Phillips said that serving the couple would violate his religious
faith. Colorado at the time recognized gay and lesbian couples with
civil unions, not marriage.
The couple sued, saying that Phillips'
faith does not give him a right to discriminate, and a Colorado court
found that Phillips had discriminated against the men under Colorado
law. After the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal,
Phillips turned to the Supreme Court, arguing that the First
Amendment protects his religious rights.
(Related: Baker
who refused gay couple says Jesus would do the same.)
“This cake is not about artistic
freedom,” Mullins told the
AFP. “We didn't ask for a piece of art. We were simply turned
away because of who we were. We were publicly humiliated for who we
were.”
“You know this case isn't about
religion and it isn't about freedom of speech. All of these things
are protected. But when you open a business to the public, you must
serve the public equally,” he added.
Today's case, Masterpiece Cakeshop
vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, is the high court's first
related to LGBT rights since it decided Obergefell, the 2015
landmark ruling that found that gay and lesbian couples have a
constitutional right to marry.