The United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Lakewood baker Jack Phillips who refused to decorate a wedding cake for a gay couple.
The 7-2 ruling is a narrow victory that has a lot to do with the process Phillips went through when the Colorado Civil Rights Commission heard a complaint against Phillips.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion which states found the Commission violated Phillip's rights when it said he cannot refuse to make a cake for same sex couples. Kennedy says the commission infringed on Phillips first amendment rights with its "clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs motivating his objection."
The Alliance for Defending Freedom which represented Phillips issued the following statement:
"Jack serves all customers; he simply declines to express or celebrate events that violate his deeply held beliefs. Creative professionals who serve all people should be free to crate art consistent with their convictions without the threat of government punishment. Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the state of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jack's religious beliefs about marriage. The court was right to condemn that. Tolerance and respect for good-faith differences of opinion are essential in a society like ours. The decision makes clear that the government must respect Jack's beliefs about marriage."