Phillips at his bakery | Photo: Facebook/Alliance Defending Freedom
Months after the Supreme Court ruling on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the baker at the center of the case, Jack Phillips, is at it again.
Phillips, owner of the Colorado bakery Masterpiece Cakeshop, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday (14 August).
This time Phillips is suing the CCRC after he refused to make a birthday cake for a transgender woman and she filed a complaint.
In June, Autumn Scardina, called Masterpiece about a birthday cake. There was no issue until she mentioned the cake — to be decorated white, blue, and pink — would also celebrate her transition, which coincides with her birthday.
She subsequently filed a complaint with the CCRC.
The CCRC determined, with probable cause, that Phillips discriminated against Scardina due to her gender identity. This is in violation of the state’s public accommodation laws.
They even cited the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which ruled for Phillips — but narrowly, on the ground of the CCRC showing ‘hostility’ to his religion. It also upheld state laws protecting LGBTI people from discrimination.
A personal vendetta?
In Phillips’ suit, he is once again citing hostility towards his religion.
‘For over six years now, Colorado has been on a crusade to crush Plaintiff Jack Phillips because its officials despise what he believes and how he practices his faith,’ it reads.
It reiterates that Colorado has ‘doggedly pursued’ Phillips.
As ‘punishment’, Colorado demanded ‘comprehensive staff reeducation to teach him and his employees — most of whom are his family members — that it is wrong for him to operate his business according to his faith’.
Phillips is seeking restitution for legal fees, as well as $100,000 in ‘punitive damages’.
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