Masterpiece Cakeshop
Cake shop · Lakewood ·
Highly decorated custom cakes and confections with friendly service
Highly decorated custom cakes and confections with friendly service
"A Lakewood, Colorado bakery that became central to national debates about whether bakers can refuse service to LGBTQ customers: in 2012 it declined to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and David Mullins citing the owner's Christian beliefs, a state civil-rights commission found discrimination but the U.S. Supreme Court later reversed that ruling, and the shop subsequently refused to make a cake for a customer's gender transition—incidents the author invokes to show how a seemingly celebratory, community-focused business can exclude queer people." - Jaya Saxena
"In a widely publicized parallel, a Colorado bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple on religious grounds and the case reached the Supreme Court, which sided with the bakery; however, that decision did not settle the underlying question of whether baking a cake is an act of expression protected by the First Amendment, so it is unlikely to set a broad legal precedent." - Brenna Houck
"A Colorado bakery that drew a flood of politically motivated negative reviews after its refusal to bake a cake for a gay wedding was upheld by the Supreme Court; many of the reviews were posted by people who had never visited. The surge prompted the platform to post an “Active Cleanup Alert” and begin removing fake reviews, but the episode highlighted how the site can be used for social protest and damaged its perception as a neutral, trustworthy review source." - Whitney Filloon
"This Lakewood, Colorado bakery has been embroiled in repeated legal battles over its owner Jack Phillips’s refusals to create cakes that, he says, conflict with his religious and artistic convictions. Phillips won a narrow 7–2 Supreme Court decision in 2018, but he now alleges state officials have resumed targeting him after a transgender customer, Autumn Scardina, says she was denied a cake celebrating the anniversary of her transition; Colorado’s Civil Rights Division recently found probable cause of discrimination. Phillips contends some orders — including requests for cakes celebrating gender transitions or featuring provocative themes — were sent to provoke him and that declining to produce messages contrary to his belief that sex is divinely assigned is protected; state authorities respond that anti-discrimination law guarantees equal access to goods and services. The dispute underscores the ongoing tension between claimed religious freedom and civil-rights protections and is prompting fresh litigation over whether the state is acting in bad faith." - Brenna Houck
"I reference the Supreme Court's decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission as background to the initiative: it was a narrow ruling in favor of a baker who refused to make a cake for the wedding of a same-sex couple." - Caleb Pershan
