US: Court hears discrimination case over gay couple being refused wedding cake
A Colorado court has heard a discrimination case brought against a baker who refused to provide a wedding cake to a same-sex couple.
The couple said Mr Phillips said he would not make a cake for them, after he found out they were celebrating their wedding in Colorado, after they got married in Massachusetts.
Yesterday, attorneys arguing on behalf of Mr Phillips said he should not be forced to violate his religious beliefs by making the cake for the couple, while attorneys on behalf of the couple said his faith does not give him the right to discrimination.
“(His) faith, whatever it may have to say about marriage for same-sex couples or the expressive power of a wedding cake, does not give the respondents a license to discriminate,” Amanda Goad, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told an administrative judge in Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission.
Nicolle Martin, attorney for Mr Philips, said he considers himself “privileged to design and create the cakes that celebrate the joyous events of people’s lives.
“He believes this is a vocation chosen for him by God, and as a man of God, Jack Phillips lives by certain biblical principles.”
A ruling will be issued later this week by Judge Robert N Spencer.
