Posted on 12/16/2014 6:30:28 AM PST by Citizen Zed
Jack Phillips is a baker whose evangelical Protestant faith informs his business. There are no Halloween treats in his bakery — he does not see devils and witches as a laughing matter. He will not make erotic-themed pastries — they offend his sense of morality. And he declines cake orders for same-sex weddings because he believes Christianity teaches that homosexuality is wrong.
Mr. Phillips, whose refusal two years ago to make a cake for a gay male couple has led to a court battle now getting underway, is one of a small number of wedding vendors across the country who are emerging as the unlikely face of faith-based resistance to same-sex marriage.
The refusals by the religious merchants — bakers, florists and photographers, for example — have been taking place for several years. But now local governments are taking an increasingly hard line on the issue, as legislative debates over whether to protect religious shop owners are overtaken by administrative efforts to punish them.
In Colorado, where Mr. Phillips, 58, owns and operates a small bakery called Masterpiece Cakeshop, the State Civil Rights Commission determined that Mr. Phillips had violated a state law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation. The commission ordered Mr. Phillips to retrain all of his employees, who include his 87-year-old mother, and to produce a quarterly report detailing any refusals to bake; in response, he has stopped accepting orders for any wedding cakes while he appeals the ruling to the state courts.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.nytimes.com ...
Custom cakes are commissioned art pieces. Just as a painter or a sculptor is free to decline a commission, so is a cake artist (or a photographer). I think if the artists (whatever the medium) makes this policy known, their troubles with sex activists will go away.
And that is what we all must be prepared to do and then do it.
RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE.
It’s not about the product.
”Because they want to make an example of those who don’t conform. This is “lawfare”, and the “social-justice” crowd not only know how to play this game, they invented it.”
If I was the baker I would countersue the couple for “bullying.” by forcing me to sell something I choose not to sell based on my religious belief is bullying.
Let’s see how that one would fly.
You’re forgetting that the government officials and courts are stacked against you, and in favor of your opponent. Or, in other words, it will fly like an elephant.
The other option is a menu. This is what is on our menu and we do not customize.
You don’t see it on the menu, go somewhere else.
These days even I don't need spiritual eyes to see the holy war raging around us, over and for us.
These motivated "oppressed" are the walking dead casualties of that war, just waiting for their physical bodies to die, too.
From what I've read, their revenge will not be served cold, but rather with eternal fire. Some victory that will be.
Gays can easily find cake decorators who will do whatever theme they want, but that is not the goal. The gay thugs who file these lawsuits are bullies who get a kick out of forcing other people to pretend that homosexuals are not perverts. It’s a form of psychological rape, where the attack is all about power over another person, not about the cake.
I do not think kind thoughts about people so evil that they would try to force others to do as they demand, whether it is through physical rape or this sort of government-sponsored abuse of the innocent. In my view, these gay activists are lower than rapists. At least rapists put themselves on the line applying force personally instead of hiding behind a judge’s order enforced with government guns as the sissies behind this lawsuit do. I’m almost indifferent to homosexuals who keep their private lives private, but the predators in this lawsuit disgust me beyond words.
What would happen if a person were to visit a gay owned bakery and try to order a cake that said “Gays are miserable hateful sinners, pity them”? If they refused would they be liable under the same logic as this situation?
“Gay privilege”, it’s the Law.
Doing work that you don’t want to do is slavery. We fought a war about that once.
Of course gay bakers can refuse service to Christians without being sued into oblivion
That is the point. They are actively seeking out victims.
Exactly right. And if he excludes redheads, another barber shop will open down the street with a sign saying, "Redheads welcome here!" The second barber shop will either put Jim out of business, or not. If not, that means Jim's not the only one who doesn't want to be around redheads, and so he's performing a desired service. Let the free market take care of this kind of thing. Don't force people to serve customers they don't want.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.