Trump Administration once again sides against the LGBTQ community
In news that will be shocking to absolutely nobody, the Trump Administration has signed on to a legal brief defending a baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding in Colorado.
Back in 2012, Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips refused to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding party. In turn, the couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which agreed that the state’s public accommodations law had been violated.
The couple went on to sue Phillips and won in the Colorado court system. Initially, the Supreme Court declined hearing the case.
That has all changed now that Neal Gorsuch has been confirmed as a Justice. GPB was one of the first LGBTQ blogs on record against his confirmation (see post).
Per a report in LGBT Nation:
“Phillips argues that baking a cake for a wedding is asking him to participate in the wedding, and that his wedding cakes are artistic expressions protected by the First Amendment.
The courts have disagreed, both that baking a cake is a form of artistic expression (instead of, say, like a sandwich at a lunch counter – a part of someone’s job), and that the state actually has a good reason to ban discrimination.” (link).
The case is headed to the Supreme Court to decide whether the Colorado has a good reason to compel Phillips to sell a cake to a gay couple.
Guided by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, The Justice Department argues that, while ending racial discrimination might be reason enough to punish Phillips for discriminating, anti-gay discrimination is not.
“A State’s ‘fundamental, overriding interest’ in eliminating private racial discrimination – conduct that ‘violated deeply and widely accepted views of elementary justice’ – may justify even those application of a public accommodations law that infringe on First Amendment freedoms,” the reads the brief.
“The Court has not similarly held that classifications based on sexual orientation are subject to strict scrutiny or that eradicating private individuals’ opposition to same-sex marriage is a uniquely compelling interest.”
In an absurd argument, the brief also makes the argument that the wedding cake itself is a form of free speech and should be protected by the First Amendment. “Weddings are sacred rites in the religious realm,” the brief reads. “When Phillips designs and creates a custom wedding cake for a specific couple and a specific wedding, he plays an active role in enabling that ritual.”
The ACLU, the organization representing the gay couple in this case, repudiated the brief. “This brief was shocking, even for this administration. What the Trump Administration is advocating for is nothing short of a constitutional right to discriminate.”
h/t: LGBTQ Nation and Pink News
