Well cowards don’t make good Supreme Court justices :-)
The answer is simpler. Search your conservative values and Constitutional understanding. You cannot force anyone to work for something they find intolerant or religiously objectionable. I think you made the point above. Could you ask a Jewish caterer to serve on Saturday? Could you ask a Jewish baker to make a swastika shaped cake? A black baker to make a KKKake or cross of fire cake?
The baker seemed reasonable to me. He did not refuse to serve the gay customers. He refused to create something he found objectionable. That is the difference. He if hung a sign “no gays allowed” he would be intolerably wrong. But it is equally intolerably wrong for the gay man to insist that he create something to celebrate that which offends his religious belief.
Or even more simple to understand: Open to the public means you will not deny your wares to any member of the public. This does not mean the public gets to insist you to make special wares to suit their whim. It doesn’t matter if they wanted a “gay cake” or a 15 layer cake. Could a straight Christian couple insist the baker make a cake he doesn’t want to make? Then why should the gay couple?
> Open to the public means you will not deny your wares to any member of the public. This does not mean the public gets to insist you to make special wares to suit their whim. <
Very good argument there!