Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has appealed the Colorado district court's decision to punish Jack Phillips for declining to create a custom pink and blue cake to celebrate a gender transition.
"ADF is going up to the Colorado Court of Appeals to defend Jack's right to create expression consistent with his deeply-held religious beliefs," reports ADF attorney Jake Warner. "We're hopeful for a good result."
The conservative Christian nonprofit advocacy group believes Phillips is being harassed.
"On the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear Jack's first case, this attorney called Jack to request a custom pink and blue cake to celebrate a gender transition," says Warner. "But this wasn't the first time this attorney had called Jack or contacted Jack. In 2012, this attorney emailed Jack calling him a bigot and a hypocrite. And two months after the gender transition cake request, this attorney called Jack back and requested a custom cake depicting Satan smoking marijuana."
More recently, Warner says the attorney promised to come back with another cake request and another lawsuit if Scardina v. Masterpiece Cakeshop is dismissed.
"Briefs will be filed in the coming months, and then oral argument will be scheduled after that," says Warner. "We don't know for sure when the court will hear Jack's case. It could be later this year or early next year."
Meanwhile, Masterpiece Cakeshop is open for business.
"Jack's still in business serving everyone but just declining to express messages that go against his sincerely-held religious beliefs," says Warner. "He sells cookies, brownies … and, of course, custom cakes that are consistent with his faith."
