Masterpiece Cakeshop Files New Discrimination Suit

LAKEWOOD, CO – Jack Phillips, owner of Lakewood's Masterpiece Cakeshop, is back in federal court alleging he was religiously discriminated against a second time by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission after his company refused, in 2017, to create an allegedly transgender-themed birthday cake.

The lawsuit also says Phillips believes Denver lawyer Autumn Scardina is behind several requests to create cakes celebrating Satan, cakes depicting sexual acts and cakes promoting marijuana use.

Scardina did not immediately return calls and messages from Patch for comment.

Phillips, and his attorneys at the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Colorado naming defendants from the board of the civil rights commission, as well as Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Phillip's first complaint against the civil rights commission went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices ruled 7-2 that the Civil Rights Commission acted in a way that demonstrated "hostility" to Phillips's religious beliefs when it ruled against him.

The first ruling by the commission was based on an incident where Phillips refused to create a wedding cakefor Charlie Craig and David Mullins, a gay couple, in 2012 (before gay marriage was legal in Colorado or the U.S.).

Since then, the new suit alleges that Phillips and his family members have been the targets of hateful emails and phone calls, and received death threats that make his wife fearful of setting foot in the bakery at 3355 S. Wadsworth Blvd. The suit says someone threw a rock through the window of the bakery and the business has had to invest in a video surveillance system.

The new suit again accuses the commission of picking on Phillips because of his religious beliefs.

According to the new suit, the commission issued a "probable cause determination" against Masterpiece and Phillips in June, 2018 because the shop refused to make a birthday cake the year before that was described as celebrating a customer's "transition" from male to female. The cake in question was allegedly requested by Denver attorney Autumn Scardina, who asked for a cake with pink frosting on the outside and blue cake inside.

The lawsuit claims that the company refused to bake the cake when he heard the reason for the pink and blue design (which violated his religious beliefs), but the suit alleges that the commission claimed they went after him because of the customer's transgender status.

Phillips and his lawyers allege that Scardina is behind other requests for "cakes celebrating Satan, featuring Satanic symbols, depicting sexually explicit materials, and promoting marijuana use."

The suit alleges that caller ID on Phillips's bakery phone displayed the name "Scardina" when an anonymous caller requested a "Birthday Cake for Satan" with red and black and red icing and an image of Satan smoking marijuana.

Another anonymous email allegedly from a group called the Church of Satan requested the following cake:

I’m thinking a three-tiered white cake. Cheesecake frosting. And the topper should be a large figure of Satan, licking a 9” black Dildo. I would like the dildo to be an actual working model, that can be turned on before we unveil the cake. I can provide it for you if you don't have the means to procure one yourself."

Phillips said in the suit he believed these and another request for a cake adorned with a pentagram were made by Scardina.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling said that Phillip's use of his personal artistic skills to decorate cakes are a form of protected First Amendment expression, and he can decline to use his artistry to create something that offends his religious beliefs.

The new suit also takes this approach, including photos of some of Phillips's cake designs to show how the bakeshop is "not just a bakery; it is an art gallery of cakes. Phillips approaches cake design as an art form."

The commission on civil rights "infringes on Phillips's and Masterpiece Bakeshop's First Amendment rights," the suit said. "Colorado’s current practice is to treat Phillips worse than others because it despises his religious beliefs and how he practices his faith," the suit says. "...This lawsuit is necessary to stop Colorado's continuing persecution of Phillips."

Colorado Republicans have complained about the commission and GOP members of the state legislature tried to disband it completely by denying funding for it last fall, an effort that failed. Gov. Hickenlooper signed a bill reauthorizing the commission until 2027 in May.

Related: Gay Wedding Cake Case: US Supreme Court Sides With CO Baker
Related: Supreme Court Hears Case Of Baker Who Turned Away Gay Couple
Related: LGBT Wedding Cake Case Is About More Than Baked Goods
Related: Gay Marriage: CO Wedding Cake Bakery Gets DOJ help

Read the complaint here:

Image: Conservative Christian baker Jack Phillips (3rd L) waves to supporters as he walks out of the U.S. Supreme Court building after the court heard the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission December 5, 2017 in Washington, DC. Siting his religious beliefs, Phillips refused to sell a gay couple a wedding cake for their same-sex ceremony in 2012, beginning a legal battle over freedom of speech and religion. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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