Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker and owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop who refused to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding in 2012, is taking his case to the Colorado Supreme Court after earlier rulings that he “unlawfully discriminated against a gay couple” were upheld in August.
The petition, filed by Phillips' attorneys on Friday, asks the state's high court to decide whether Phillips' religious beliefs about marriage are being violated. They're also asking the justices to consider whether forcing Phillips to create an “artistic expression” that is against his religious beliefs violates his free speech rights.
“From Masterpiece's inception, he has integrated his faith and work,” Phillips' attorneys wrote in the filing. “Phillips also honors God through his creative work by declining to use his artistic talents to design and create cakes that violate his religious beliefs.”
Phillips lost in August before the Colorado Court of Appeals which upheld a ruling from the state's seven-member Civil Rights Commission and administrative law Judge Robert N. Spencer.
The ruling from The Colorado Civil Rights Commission noted evidence in the record that Phillips had expressed willingness to take a cake order for the “marriage” of two dogs, but not for the commitment ceremony of two women, and that he would not make a cake for a same-sex couple's wedding celebration “just as he would not be willing to make a pedophile cake.”
Watch the Denver Post‘s report:
