Baker who ‘said she doesn’t support the gays’ wins court ruling against lesbian couple
(Facebook/Eileen Del Rio)
A baker who refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding has won a court ruling.
Cathy Miller’s Tastries Bakery faced boycott calls in August after she turned away Eileen Del Rio and her fiancée Mireya.
After holding tastings at the bakery, Miller came over and told the couple she couldn’t create their wedding cake because she was a Christian.
(Facebook/Eileen Del Rio)
Eileen wrote on Facebook at the time, explaining: “We had already picked everything out. All we had to do is taste.
“She took over the process and told us she does not support the gays in any way”.
The Californian couple brought a lawsuit against Miller, but yesterday, Judge David Lampe ruled in favour of the baker.
(Facebook/Eileen Del Rio)
If the cake had already been made and was on sale, that would have been discriminatory, the judge said.
But Miller could not be made to bake a cake which would go against her beliefs, he added.
The judge said that such an order from the state would be “the stuff of tyranny”.
“For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment,” he wrote in the eight-page ruling.
In a statement to local news channel 17 News, the couple’s attorney said that the ruling was “not a total surprise,” and pledged to keep fighting.
“This is only the beginning. It is just one battle in the war against discrimination,” she added.
Cathy Miller (KGET TV 17)
Miller spoke of her delight at the ruling, and denied that she wanted to discriminate against gay people.
“When our attorney called this evening we were shocked,” she said.
“Of course we had hope that it would come in our favour, but we knew the lord was in control of this and we did what we were called to do.
(Facebook/Eileen Del Rio)
“Our bakery and our family feel very blessed that the judge ruled in our favour.
“Not to say that we want to be discriminatory, but we do need to stand up for our religious freedom and for our freedom of speech.”
Miller said in August that she had refused to serve same-sex couples for years, even going so far as to refer them to her competitor, Gimmee Some Sugar.
(Facebook/Eileen Del Rio)
“That’s what we’ve been doing for five years,” she said.
“I’m really hurt by this. I don’t think we should be picked on because of our beliefs,” Miller added.
Jack Phillips of Colorado’s Masterpiece Cakeshop, currently at the centre of a landmark US court case about anti-LGBT discrimination, claimed last year that Jesus Christ would discriminate against gay people.
Jack Phillips appearing on The View in 2017
His case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court.
Phillips launched a legal challenge after being found in violation of state anti-discrimination laws for refusing to serve gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig.
The baker refused to make a cake for the couple after he found out they were celebrating their wedding.
