USA - Religious-liberty activists and conservative Christian groups are optimistic after oral arguments on Tuesday at the US Supreme Court in a case involving a Colorado Christian wedding cake baker that squarely pits constitutional rights of free speech and religious liberty against LGBT activists on the subject of same-sex marriage.
Colorado’s anti-discrimination law forbids businesses denying goods and services due to various reasons, including typical grounds like race and color, but also including sexual orientation.
A same-sex couple sued Jack Phillips when they asked him to customize a wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex marriage in 2012, at a time when Colorado did not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. Phillips declined on the grounds that his Evangelical Christian faith teaches that marriage is the union of a man and woman.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) defended Phillips on the grounds that his right to decline to celebrate same-sex marriage is protected by either the Free Speech Clause or the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which trumps Colorado law.