|
|
U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Anti-LGBT Bakery Case
From a press release
2017-06-26
|
|
This article shared 849 times since Mon Jun 26, 2017
|
|
( Washington—- June 26, 2017 ) — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it has granted review in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission — the Colorado case involving a Denver bakery that cited religious beliefs and refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple contrary to Colorado's civil rights law. Jennifer C. Pizer, Senior Counsel and Director of Law and Policy for at Lambda Legal, who authored a friend-of-the-court brief in the case for Lambda Legal, One Colorado, and One Colorado Education Fund, issued the following statement:
"From wedding cakes and flowers to haircuts and lodging, we are seeing some business owners claiming religious rights to turn away LGBT people, ignoring that the public marketplace must be open to everyone regardless of anyone's religious beliefs. Legal arguments trying to win new religious rights to reject customers easily can open the floodgates of religiously motivated discrimination. This case is about a same-sex couple and baked goods, but its implications are far reaching because religious beliefs vary widely. What if medical professionals decide for religious reasons not to care for a pregnant woman because she isn't married? Or, if an employer believes that men should be the head of the household and so pays men more than women? Or if a landlord believes that gender is determined at birth and its expression must never change, and so refuses to rent to transgender people?
"Courts that have considered the arguments pressed by the bakery in this case consistently have come to the same conclusion: the Constitution does not give anyone the right to harm others based on religious beliefs. And laws requiring business people to follow civil rights laws when selling goods or services do not violate free speech rights. These basic principles have been settled for decades and we hope this Supreme Court will reaffirm them without creating anti-LGBT exceptions.
"This case actually involves the exact concerns that Lambda Legal raised during the confirmation hearings for newly-installed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch about his Court of Appeals opinion in the Hobby Lobby case, in which he ignored Supreme Court precedent and catered to the religious beliefs of employers, trumping federal law and not even acknowledging the harmful impacts on workers."
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission is the appeal of a 2012 case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Denver-based bakery on behalf of David Mullins and Charlie Craig, a gay couple who sought to purchase a cake for their wedding reception. At that time, Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, informed them that because of his religious beliefs the store's policy was to deny service to customers who wished to order baked goods to celebrate a same-sex couple's wedding.
Acting on complaints filed by Mullins and Craig, the Colorado Civil Rights Division determined that Cakeshop had violated Colorado law prohibiting public accommodations from refusing service based on factors such as race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation. That ruling was affirmed by a Colorado Administrative Court judge, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and, in August, 2015, by the Colorado Court of Appeals. After the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Cakeshop asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review, which it has just done.
|
|
|
|
This article shared 849 times since Mon Jun 26, 2017
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | WORLD Leaked messages, Panama action, author dies at 32, Japan court, out athletes 2024-03-15 Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a report and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer, according to ...
|
| | NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools 2024-03-15 In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...
|
| | College athletes sue NCAA over transgender policies 2024-03-15 Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among a group of college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on March 14, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing trans swimmer Lia Thomas ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ people attacked by mobs in Greece 2024-03-14 Just weeks after a landmark law granted same-sex couples in Greece the right to marry, nearly 200 people dressed in black chased a transgender couple through the town square in Thessaloniki, the country's "second city" and ...
|
| | Florida settles 'Don't Say Gay' lawsuit 2024-03-11 On March 11, the state of Florida settled a multi-year lawsuit against the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, which limits how LGBTQ+ topics can be discussed and presented in schools, The Hill reported. The settlement agreement ...
|
| | "X" gender marker now available on Illinois driver's licenses and state ID cards 2024-03-11 After several years of preparation, the Illinois Secretary of State's office is has been making the X gender designation available for non-binary residents and others not utilizing the M or F designations, since the beginning of ...
|
| | Center on Halsted's signature Human First Gala to return 2024-03-11 --From a press release - CHICAGO, IL — Center on Halsted's signature Human First Gala will be held on Saturday, April 20 at The Geraghty. The gala brings together LGBTQ+ community members and allies for an evening of celebration to recognize ...
|
| | WORLD Israeli reservist, man detained, Ghana bill, medic denied honor 2024-03-08 Hanania Ben-Shimonthe gay Israel Defense Forces reservist who was wounded as he killed one of the terrorists in the attack at the A-Za'ayem checkpoint near Ma'ale Adumim recentlypublished a post in which he pleaded that his ...
|
| | Court blocks Texas attorney general's demand for PFLAG data 2024-03-01 From a press release: AUSTIN, Texas—Travis County District Court Judge Maria Cantú Hexel on March 1 blocked the latest effort by the Texas Attorney General's Office to persecute Texas families with transgender youth, temporarily haltin ...
|
| | WORLD Canadian politics, Australian murders, Finnish study, 'Anatomy' 2024-03-01 Canadian conservatives are divided over an anti-trans policy that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith handed down in her province, The Guardian reported. The policy includes a ban on hormonal treatment, puberty ...
|
| | Appeals court allows Ind. ban on gender-affirming care for minors 2024-03-01 On Feb. 27, a federal appeals court in Chicago allowed Indiana's ban on gender-affirming care to go into effect, removing a temporary injunction that U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon issued last year, ABC News ...
|
| | Ghana parliament passes harsh anti-LGBTQ+ bill 2024-02-29 On Feb. 28, Ghana's parliament unanimously passed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that has been condemned globally. The so-called Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, which was introduced in the parliament in 2021, not only criminalizes ...
|
| | PASSAGES Trailblazing judge and attorney Patricia M. Logue passes away 2024-02-26 The Honorable Patricia Logue ("Pat" to her friends, Trish" to her family) was a brilliant lawyer, a trailblazing jurist and a hero to the LGBTQ community. Pat's legacy includes numerous landmark cases she litigated over her ...
|
| | Federal jury finds man guilty of killing trans woman in landmark case 2024-02-24 In a groundbreaking case, a federal jury in Columbia, South Carolina found Daqua Lameek Ritter guilty of killing transgender woman Dime Doe after deliberating for almost four hours, The State reported. It is the first time ...
|
| | Unprecedented Alabama Supreme Court ruling undermins access to family-building healthcare, GLAD responds 2024-02-23 --From a press release - Feb. 23, 2024 (Boston) — Today, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) issued the following statement from Polly Crozier, GLAD's Director of Family Advocacy, on the Alabama Supreme Court decision ...
| |
|
|