Colorado baker Jack Phillips won his U.S. Supreme Court case on Monday, and the religious right is having a great time spinning the truth about his case. Phillips took the liberty of claiming on Tuesday that he does not discriminate, despite refusing to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples.
“I don’t discriminate against anybody. I serve everybody that comes into my shop,” Phillips told the “Today” show (video below). “I don’t create cakes for every message that people ask me to create.”
Despite what many on the right are claiming, Phillips won his case at the nation’s highest court only because seven of the nine justices found the Colorado commission charged with deciding discrimination cases acted with “hostility” towards Phillips, not because he did or did not discriminate.
In fact, the Supreme Court made clear it was not ruling on the discrimination charge. Further, the seven justices who ruled for Phillips all agreed that the rights of LGBT people in the marketplace must be protected.
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The court in fact warned those who would bring what they might think are similar cases to its doors. These cases must be resolved “without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market.”
Many disagree with Phillips’ argument, and in fact his remarks on the “Today” show offer more fuel for that fire.
“A wedding cake is an inherently religious,” he began, then corrected himself to say, “a wedding is an inherently religious event.”
That’s false. Both claims are.
Last year Phillips said, “”I don’t believe that Jesus would have made the cake.”
Phillips’ attorney Kristen Waggoner (who has a long history of creatively framing her clients’ cases) on the “Today” show also wrongly characterized the ruling, claiming “what the court dealt with” was that Phillips hand sketches one-of-a-kind cakes. That seems to be a false claim, given that Phillips refused the same-sex couple’s request for a cake immediately upon asking.
In fact, in her separate but concurring opinion, Justice Elena Kagan wrote:
“The cake requested was not a special ‘cake celebrating same-sex marriage.’ It was simply a wedding cake—one that (like other standard wedding cakes) is suitable for use at same-sex and opposite-sex weddings alike.”
Waggoner, by the way, in 2016 claimed there is “no evidence that those who identify as gay or lesbian have been denied service.”
Watch Jack Phillips say he doesn’t discriminate: