Jack Phillips is the “canary in the coal mine” for the inevitable legal mess that followed legalizing gay marriage nationwide, as one of his friends put it, and, despite his favorable Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, has faced continued harassment from the LGBT left and the Colorado Human Rights Commission.
As you will recall, when the Supreme Court ruled on his case, they explicitly stated that the Colorado Human Rights Commission had unfairly heard his case, showing distinct animus towards his personal faith. Instead, the Court wrote, the Commission should have shown a more objective view to the issue as to whether or not he had discriminated against the homosexual couple who requested he bake them a cake for their wedding.
In other words, had the Colorado Human Rights Commission found against him but had not displayed such animus, the Court might have very well found in their favor. What they did not expressly rule on was whether or not he had a right to refuse to provide his goods for events that conflicted with his personal faith.
Although the First Amendment is pretty clear he has that right.
Since the ruling, a transexual has once again filed a complaint against him when the individual baited Phillips into refusing to bake a “transition” cake.
So rather than once again face the wrath of the Colorado Human Rights Commission, Phillips and his representation, the Alliance Defending Freedom, are suing.
Life Site News reports:
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious liberty nonprofit that represented Phillips in his original case, responded by filing a federal lawsuit against outgoing Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper and the state civil rights commission, accusing them of ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling and continuing to discriminate against Phillips’ faith.
“Jack had no choice but to file a federal lawsuit to defend himself from this targeting,” ADF’s Maureen Collins wrote. “He should not have to fear government punishment for his faith when he opens his cake shop for business every day. But it appears that Colorado will not stop harassing him until he closes down or agrees to violate his faith.”
The case went before the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on Tuesday, Colorado Public Radio reports.
Jim Campbell, an ADF attorney representing Phillips, argued that the commissioners, all of whom were appointed by Hickenlooper, are acting as both accusers and judges in the case, which is particularly concerning in light of bias they’ve expressed against Phillips online.
“One current commissioner has publicly referred to Jack as a ‘hater’ on Twitter, one of several indications of the commission’s ongoing bias against Jack and his beliefs,” Campbell said prior to the hearing. “We’re asking the federal court to immediately stop Colorado’s efforts to punish Jack in order to shield him from a biased agency and ensure that he is not forced to express messages that violate his faith.”
Phillips has endured enough harassment from the government for only ever politely declining to provide services for something that violated his faith. He won’t celebrate Halloween or divorce with his cakes, either.
Our nation was founded on the idea that Christians could never be compelled by the government to violate their faith, but the atheists and humanists have made miles and miles out of every inch they’ve gotten.
It’s time to stand up and fight back.
“If Christians are always only on the defensive, then we’re going to continue to lose ground,” says constitutional attorney Jenna Ellis. “We have to be also making sure that we’re standing up and we’re standing forward.”
