A Colorado baker was ordered Friday to stop refusing his services to same-sex couples, or face fines, The Washington Times reported. The judge's ruling is the latest in a string of discrimination cases against same-sex couples.
Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, was ordered by Jude Robert N. Spencer to "cease and desist from discriminating" against same-sex couples "by refusing to sell them wedding cakes or any other product [he] would provide to heterosexual couples," The Washington Times reported.
In 2012, 33-year-old Charlie Craig and 29-year-old David Mullins went to Phillips for a cake for their wedding that July. When Phillips found out Craig and Mullins were gay, Phillips refused to serve them, reports say.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint against Phillips on behalf of Craig and Mullins, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Phillips claims doing business with Craig and Mullins goes against his religious beliefs as a Christian. Nicole Martin, Phillips' attorney, said Spencer's ruling is un-American.
"If Jack can't make his wedding cakes, he can't continue to support his family," Martin told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "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 judge said Phillips violated Colorado's anti-discrimination law. Granting Phillips the right to run his business how he wants seems right on the surface, but "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," Spencer wrote in his ruling.
In August, a New Mexico judge ruled in favor of a same-sex couple that was denied services by a photographer. According to the St. Louis Dispatch, another case is pending in Washington state where a florist may have refused services to a same-sex couple for their wedding.
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