The Colorado courts have again ordered a cakeshop owner in Colorado to stop discriminating against the LGBTQ community. In 2017, a transgender woman tried to order a pink birthday cake with blue icing from a bakery to celebrate her upcoming birthday. The bakery agreed to make the cake until it discovered that the customer was transgender. At trial, the business owner admitted that he would bake the same cake for anyone else, but not for a transgender woman. His defense was that his god did not make transgender people so requiring him to create such a cake for her was a violation of his freedom of religion and free speech rights. Paula Greisen, one of the attorneys representing the customer and who also represented the gay couple who were denied a wedding cake by this business, said the rulings one again confirmed that no one in the LGBTQ community should be denied service because of their identity or sexual orientation.
Here are links to reporting about this case:
- Colorado baker loses appeal over transgender birthday cake – CBS Colorado (cbsnews.com)
- Colorado appeals court rules against baker in case of gender-transition birthday cake – Washington Times
- Colorado baker loses appeal over refusal to make gender transition cake | Reuters
- Colorado appeals court finds Masterpiece Cakeshop violated anti-discrimination law again | Courts | coloradopolitics.com
- Trans Woman’s Birthday Cake Trial: Court Rejects “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- This Trans Woman Won a Major Victory Against Masterpiece Cakeshop After Being Denied Service
Website Designer Complains to Supreme Court that Anti-Discrimination Laws Infringe her Religious and First Amendment Rights: Paula Greisen Discusses 303 Creative v. Elenis (superlawyers.com)