Did the bakers that refused to bake Mr William Jack’s cake break the law? The difference in how the Colorado Commission treated those bakers was the major reason Masterpiece won the SCOTUS case.
In March 2014, a man named William Jack asked several bakeries to make him custom cakes in the shape of open Bibles. He wanted them to have an image of a red “X” superimposed over two groomsmen holding hands in front of a cross. He also wanted one to say “Homosexuality is a detestable sin. Leviticus 18:2,” according to a state ruling.
The bakeries refused, though some offered to just bake the cakes without the messages.
This time, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission sided with the bakers, saying they were free to refuse to write the messages. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said that was a clear case of treating people differently.
“The Commission denied Mr. Phillips that choice, even as it afforded the bakers in Mr. Jack’s case the choice to refuse to advance a message they deemed offensive to their secular commitments. That is not neutral,” wrote Gorsuch, who is from Colorado, in a concurring opinion.
It’s a free speech issue, not a religious issue. Can I force a tattoo artist to give me a tattoo he finds offensive and that would harm his reputation with other clients? No, because government may not compel speech. Symbols and art are speech. Baking a cake is both.
I still think it would have been hilarious if this guy had baked the transgender cake and filled it with cayenne pepper, anchovies or just didn’t let it rise . “What, as far as I know that’s the recipe for transgender celebration cakes”. What are going to do then, get the judiciary to force bakers to follow specific recipes for every type of cake?
I find that logic lacking, apply the same logic if he had refused providing a good or service that was part of his normal business model but change the customers.
Try an argument before the court if - hypothetically - he provided a good (say a wedding cake) to a black couple, asian couple, or white couple, but refused service to interracial couples seeking the same good or service.
“Sorry judge, you should rule in my favor because I didn’t discriminate against the couple because of the mixed race (the people), I just don’t provide those goods or service to mixed race weddings (the event).”
The case properly relies on the fact that it is a custom cake and not something off the shelf. Making it a unique creation by an artist and therefore speech.
And, all that’s necessary to have that prevail is that you personally hold that belief. The only way it gets invalidated is not by the court showing no or few other people believe it. So if you can find that he was off baking transgender cakes for other people prior to this that would work for you.
Say you were claiming that your personally held religious belief prohibited you from eating broccoli, what the court looks at is if you personally hold that as a sincere religious belief, not if there is a religion or church that forbids the eating of broccoli.
In Witmer v. United States , the Court observed that “the ultimate question” in such cases is “the sincerity of the registrant” objecting to military service. 11Open this footnote During that inquiry, “any fact which casts doubt on the veracity of the registrant is relevant
Being a member of a broccoli hating church in a recognized large religion can certainly bolster your claim that you sincerely hold that religious belief, it doesn’t invalidate it if there is no such church.
No, that’s not creating, it is assembling. By no stretch can a whopper with no onions be deemed art. It would not be a unique one of a kind item created by an artist. I can show you multiple instances of custom cakes displayed in museums, can you show me a whooper with extra tomatoes in any?
I specifically used Burger King for my example. However, when i worked at Subway when I was a much younger person, my official job title was “Sandwich Artist.” Don’t even try to tell me what what I was making wasn’t art. I poured my soul into that job.
Making a custom order Subway sandwich is EXACTLY like making a custom order cake. Putting pink frosting on a blue cake isn’t exactly making the Mona Lisa.
