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THE US SUPREME Court is to hear arguments today in a case that has been described as the most significant for gay rights since it approved same-sex marriage two years ago.
The landmark case pits a gay couple, Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, against a Colorado bakery owner who refused in July 2012 to make a cake for their same-sex wedding reception.
Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, cited his devout Christian beliefs in turning down their request for a cake.
“What a cake celebrating this event would communicate was a message that contradicts my deepest religious convictions,” Phillips wrote this week in USA Today.
“And as an artist, that’s just not something I’m able to do,” he said.
So I politely declined.
Mullins, a 33-year-old poet and musician, and Craig, a 37-year-old interior designer, said they were emotionally devastated by the rejection and filed suit for discrimination.
“This case is not about artistic freedom,” Mullins told AFP. “We didn’t ask for a piece of art.
“We were simply turned away because of who we were,” he said.
We were publicly humiliated for who we were.
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission and the state appeals court backed up Mullins and Craig. And now it’s in the hands of the nine-member Supreme Court which features a conservative justice, Neil Gorsuch, newly appointed by President Donald Trump.
Mullins, Craig and civil rights groups have warned that if Phillips is victorious, other businesses could cite religious beliefs to refuse service to gay customers.
“When you open a business to the public, you must serve the public equally,” Mullins said.
“If a business owner is allowed to turn someone away just for their strongly held beliefs, could a hotel owner turn away an interracial couple because their faith believes that the races where not meant to mix?” he asked.
“A loss at the Supreme Court could open the door to many forms of discrimination that have long been considered wrong in our society,” he said.
‘One man and one woman’
Phillips said he would be happy to sell Mullins and Craig a cake — just not a wedding cake that would conflict with his conviction that “God designed marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
“Just as I shouldn’t be able to use the law to force others to design something that promotes my beliefs, others shouldn’t be able to force me to design a cake that celebrates theirs,” he added in USA Today.
Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal aid group representing Phillips, rejected the argument that the bakery owner’s stand is discriminatory.
“Jack offered to sell the two gentlemen suing him basically anything in his shop,” Tedesco told AFP. “Jack serves all who walk through his doors, no matter what their background or walk of life.
“But like other artists, he just can’t create all messages for all events,” he said. “Declining to express celebratory messages about same-sex marriages is simply not class-based discrimination.
“This case is about the freedom of artists and creative professionals to not be forced by the government to create custom expression or work for a message or event that violates who they are,” Tedesco said.
“To say that a Muslim, Jewish, or Christian artist can no longer adhere to the teachings of their faith and be forced by the government to create expression that violates their beliefs is scary,” he said.
“Jack and his family have faced death threats and government punishment,” he said.
In a truly free society, tolerance should be a two-way street.
Some 20 states, dozens of members of Congress and Christian lobbyist groups have thrown their weight behind the baker.
The Trump administration has also argued that his cakes are a form of artistic expression and that he cannot be forced to use his talents against his own religious beliefs.
Among those representing Mullins and Craig is the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU.
“This isn’t about a cake,” said Louise Melling, the ACLU’s deputy legal director.
“This is a question about whether the Constitution protects the right to discriminate,” Melling said.
“It’s about whether the Constitution protects the right of a bakery to put up in its store window a sign that says ‘Wedding cakes for heterosexuals only,’” she said.
I hope she never sees the light of day again
The sickening thing is , she will .
Will she even do time I wonder
I doubt it. It’ll be a Suspended sentence
This is Ireland.
She’ll most likely, get a fully furnished new house to add to her previous portfolio of 3.
A new car.
A raise in her benefits.
New clothes.
And hundreds of thousands of Euro in medical and counselling expenses.
This woman does not deserve to call herself a mother. She’s nothing but a disgusting human. Fair play to those kids for going through with this case and sorry to hear this was allowed to carry on for so long.
How did she get bail? Vile human being, I hope she gets a proper sentence and the kids get the love and help they need.
How could this continue over time without something being done? Neighbours aware, school aware of issues. What did social services do here? This is madness.
Yes, Greg, I wonder what Social Services did here, and what the ISPCC did here, too.
It seems to just have been allowed to continue for 5 years.
It’s astounding, with Child Abuse supposedly being taken so seriously.
I can’t understand what makes someone do that to kids, any kids. I just hope that they get the love and attention that they deserve now as young adults.
Her defense team? Who paid for that I wonder?
Where is/are the father(s)?
How is this tolerated in the 21st century?
She may not even know who the fathers are.
Disgusting! Poor children, God love them
Why didn’t the neighbours report her?
What a twisted bitch
I heard some of the mothers defence evidence reported on the radio today in relation to the two boys having their hair pulled out by her…….
“She said the boys were exaggerating, yes, she said, she had to hold them forcibly in a headlock and it took some power to force the neck of the Fairy washing liquid bottle past their clenched teeth as they struggled and won’t allow her to pour the washing up liquid in their mouths because they said a rude word but she didn’t pull out clumps of hair”
That was her defence on that charge alone.
She didn’t see anything wrong with it, that was her defence………What an evil woman.
She is evil, I hope that she never gets out.
It wasn’t just her that failed the children, why were they left in her care for so long, why did it take so long to bring her to court?
Why was there a delay of 5 years from when social services got involved until the kids were taken from this vile evil woman
The poor kids. I hope they can go on to lead normal happy lives.
This evil piece of sc#m should be fed on bread and water for the rest of her miserable life
I hope she gets the help she needs, and for the children’s sake that she is able to establish a normal relationship with them in time.
Joe, I would say that the relationship is way beyond repair.
‘The help she needs’?!! Are you for real Joe?
Why is every perpetrator of horrific crimes given the tag of ‘victim’? Some people are just evil, nasty, deplorable animals and should be disposed of.
After witnessing first hand similar events above I can say from my own experience that forgiveness comes in time. May be a few years, may take decades, the child will still want to be loved / accepted by the parent. They may have a chance at a relationship of some sort depending on the child or no relationship at all depending on the child. The child will also feel a degree of guilt and responsibility even though the child is 100% innocent the guilt is still there.
The child’s want/need to be loved and wanted is huge if they can get that of the fosters career they may never look for their mothers love, but if they are shipped from home to home and only used by the foster career for money (some foster careers not all) then I feel the child future will be hard.
Exactly Colin some people are beyond help, evil will always be evil unfortunately the human race churns out the odd one every now and then, and unfortunately that evil can spawn innocent children.
Well said
Poor kids
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