Masterpiece Cakeshop
America is no longer the Land of the Free.
A judge is compelling a privately-owned business in Denver to serve a homosexual couple or face fines, even though doing so violates the business owner’s Christian religious beliefs.
Ivan Morena reports for Seattle PI, Dec 6, 2013, that Colorado Office of Administrative Courts’ administrative law judge Robert N. Spencer said Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver had discriminated against a gay couple “because of their sexual orientation by refusing to sell them a wedding cake for their same-sex marriage.”
Spencer’s order says the cake-maker must “cease and desist from discriminating” against gay couples. The cakeshop will face penalties if it continues to turn away gay couples who want to buy cakes.
In July 2012, Charlie Craig, 33, and David Mullins, 29, got married in Massachusetts and wanted a wedding cake for their celebration in Colorado. When Masterpiece Cakeshop’s owner Jack Phillips found out the cake was to celebrate a gay wedding, he turned the couple away, according to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the two homosexuals with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission
ACLU attorney Amanda Goad said no one is asking Phillips to change his religious beliefs, ”But treating gay people differently because of who they are is discrimination, plain and simple.”
Nicolle Martin, an attorney for Masterpiece Cakeshop, said the judge’s order puts Phillips in an impossible position of going against his Christian faith: “He can’t violate his conscience in order to collect a paycheck. If Jack can’t make wedding cakes, he can’t continue to support his family. And in order to make wedding cakes, Jack must violate his belief system. That is a reprehensible choice. It is antithetical to everything America stands for.”
The Civil Rights Commission is expected to certify the judge’s order next week. Phillips can appeal the judge’s order, and Martin said they’re considering their next steps.
Colorado has a constitutional ban against gay marriage but allows civil unions. The civil union law, which passed earlier this year, does not provide religious protections for businesses.
Judge Spencer said in his written order, “At first blush, it may seem reasonable that a private business should be able to refuse service to anyone it chooses. This view, however, fails to take into account the cost to society and the hurt caused to persons who are denied service simply because of who they are.”
In other words, it’s all about “feelings.” The “hurt feelings” of Craig and Mullins are more important than a privately-owned business’ freedom of choice as to whom the business would serve.
Mullins said he and Craig are “ecstatic” and hope the “decision will help ensure that no one else will experience this kind of discrimination again in Colorado.”
A similar case is pending in Washington state, where a florist is accused of refusing service for a same-sex wedding. In New Mexico, the state Supreme Court ruled in August that an Albuquerque business was wrong to decline to photograph a same-sex couple’s commitment ceremony.
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Robert Spencer is an administrative law judge in the State of Colorado and, as such, he is a public servant. I spent a good half hour scouring the net for information and an image of Spencer, to no avail. The only information I found was on the “Judges” page of the Colorado Office of Administrative Courts, which simply lists Robert Spencer as “Judge.”
That’s it.
Nothing on how old he is; what education and legal training he has; how he got appointed judge.
This is unacceptable!
Here’s contact info. for the Colorado Office of Administrative Courts:
Denver Office
633 17th Street, Suite 1300
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: (303) 866-2000
e-mail address: [email protected]
See also DCG’s “Oregon bakery that denied service to same-sex couple closes.” Sept. 3, 2013.
~Eowyn
posted on 09 December at 16:06
dear sir or vagina:
whoever the judge is that gave the order forcing the cake-makers in colorado to make a cake celebrating the "blessed" union of two masculivoids who each are outcasted from men enough to look at masculinity with a jagged and dumbfounded sense of curiosity and anticipation, well, he should not be a judge. cake-makers are artists, no artist should be ordered to make any specific kind of art. that'd be like telling madonna to stop embracing the anti-christ in her concerts, to stop making a mockery of the church, to stop - let me take a quote from her 1990 world tour - "breaking every rule we can".
madonna is an artist who is free to express herself in her art in any way that she sees fit. if a legitimate christian who knew nothing about madonna went to one of her shows (based on her very christian and very misleading name of "madonna"), could he legitimately complain to any judge about feeling slighted and discriminated against by madonna? could he have her cited for "false advertising," for using the virgin mary's name? he'd simply be told not to go to madonna's shows. well, cake-makers are also artists, why should they be mandated to create cake-art celebrating two masculivoids? if two masculivoids wanted a cake made for a heterosexual wedding, i don't believe that the cake-artists would have any problem with that. there are "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs, there are dress-codes allowing the little gender to expose their baby-feeding MOMmary glands while not allowing men to expose their chests, there are discriminatory rules everywhere. just because a "man" lacks masculine gender-identity enough to gawk at masculine bodies in utmost reverence, shouldn't mean he doesn't have to play by the rules of society.
madonna absolutely will not compromise her artistic integrity, she actually used those words as a reason for not changing her show when she was ordered to. "i'm not changing my show...that would be compromising my artistic integrity," that's what she said in her "truth or dare" documentary about her "blond ambition" show. i don't think any artist would compromise artistic integrity - i certainly don't compromise mine in order to embrace homosexuality (or matthew shepard) at my website (matthewshepard.info), and it is the fault of pro-gay bigots like the aclu who are stifling freedom. madonna spits on conventional values with her art, she would never submit to anyone telling her what kind of art to make, so why should cake-makers be forced to submit regarding their creativity?
pro-gay bigots are murdering the freedom that they claim to embrace. yes, madonna is a pro-gay bigot. elton john is a pro-gay bigot who is intolerant of anything that is anti-gay. the aclu is full of pro-gay bigots, the media is teeming with pro-gay bigots, society is full of pro-gay bigots who have been brainwashed by 24/7 pro-gay propaganda. isn't the company responsible for madonna's 1990 "truth or dare" even named "propaganda films"
if the vaginas of the world are free to wear breast-baring shirts to work and men must dress respectably ("even in the summertime," taking a line from shiela e's "the glamorous life"), well, that is a form of bigotry which caters to the lesser gender. pro-woman bigots are usually on-board with pro-gay bigots, this is because feminists and gays are all a bunch of masculine wannabees who each will "neverbee" as masculine as they "wannabee". furthermore, if the much-repeated and never-justified tagline of "a woman can do anything a man can do" does not bring forth images of masculine wannabees, what does? if a "man" has a burning desire to get close and personal with a naked masculine body, if a "man" in the mens' locker room is as clueless and blind as the little boy who is always covering an eye/impairing his vision in the presence of the dancing girls in madonna's "open your heart" video, why is it so hard to comprehend gay "men" as just a bunch of masculine wannabees/neverbees?
if the cake-artists don't want to make art celebrating a "man" who doesn't possess the masculine self-esteem to regard himself as man enough to be his one and only man, no judge has a right to tell them what kind of cake-artistry to create. if madonna doesn't want to make art in which she repents for her valueless career by truly embracing jesus christ, would she do anything but laugh in ridicule at any judge who'd order her to?
in the immortal words of macaulay culkin, "iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii don't think so".
mr. dylan terreri, i dr. sheldon cooper, ii www.godhatespride.com
www.thelessergender.com
"When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it." - Madonna www.jaggedlittledyl.com/essays