6/17/21 Notorious Baker Fined $500 for Refusing to Make Gender-Transition Cake

On Wednesday, Denver District Court Judge Bruce Jones added another layer to the saga of cake discrimination by Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker. The judge ordered his bakery to pay $500 in restitution to Autumn Scardina, a would-be customer, for violating Colorado's anti-discrimination laws; Phillips refused to bake Scardina a pink-with-blue-icing gender-transition celebration cake.

You may remember the Masterpiece Cake Shop, Phillips's shop, from a previous incident in which he refused to make a cake celebrating a gay wedding. That was in 2012. The following lawsuit made lots of headlines, and eventually, the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Phillips's right to free speech had been violated. He went back to his bakery. There's no word on the status of the happy couple.

Well, hold on to your butter, because five years later, but still a year before the Supreme Court ruling, Scardina asked Masterpiece Cake Shop to make her gender-transition cake. Again, Jack Phillips, co-owner, refused. Scardina sued under state civil rights laws, and Phillips counter-sued the state, but after the Supreme Court ruling, the state and the baker agreed to drop the matter.

Then along came 2019 and a second suit from Scardina, who used different state laws from the first suit. Long story shorter, Phillips was back in hot water, with Scardina was determined to put the icing on her fight against discrimination. Phillips is appealing the case.

Let's hope they cook up a solution before the whole issue goes stale -- again.

What is the deal with this baker? Why can’t he just bake the cakes his customers order and just stop being so nosy? Someone wanted a pink cake with blue icing. Big deal. Did he really have to ask what the occasion was, so he could decide to judge it? Or did Scardina really have to go to this one baker who was already being sued?

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/558849-court-fines-baker-500-for-refusing-to-make-gender-transition-cake?fbclid=IwAR3vbYW7qg-hcr5Z925R5t7DtdnO_XXqmXBr4gRouWMf5oxyJmIVcRZKLqc