Baker in same-sex wedding cake case back in court on transgender bias allegations | TheHill - The Hill

The Colorado man who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple was back in court this week, this time over his refusal to make a cake celebrating a gender transition.

Less than a month after the Supreme Court issued its June ruling, which handed baker Jack Phillips a partial win, Colorado found that he had again violated the state’s public accommodations laws by refusing to make a cake with blue exterior and pink interior for Autumn Scardina.

The state argued that Phillips denied Scardina service because she is transgender.

In his lawsuit in the federal district court in Colorado, Phillips claims the state is bullying him for his religious beliefs.

“The state’s continuing efforts to target Phillips do not just violate the Constitution; they cross the line into bad faith,” his attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom argued in court documents.

While the state has asked the court to dismiss the case, the Associated Press reported the judge said Tuesday that he is inclined to let the case proceed.

Phillips is seeking a court order that forces Aubrey Elenis, director of the Colorado Civil Rights Division, to pay him $100,000 in damages.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 7-2 ruling in June said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had acted with clear and impermissible hostility toward Phillips's sincere religious beliefs when it said he violated the state's public accommodations law by refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

But the court did not go as far to say that wedding cakes are an artistic expression protected by the First Amendment.

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