Current Events > Judge rules California baker can't be forced to make gay wedding cakes

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/judge-rules-in-favor-of-california-baker-who-refused-to-design-wedding-cake-for-same-sex-couple

A Kern County judge ruled in favor of a Bakersfield baker who refused to design a wedding cake for an already-married same-sex couple last year.

Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery, was facing discrimination charges filed by the state.

Miller filed an opposition brief in January.

According to court documents from the ruling in favor of Tastries Bakery:
"A wedding cake is not just cake in Free Speech analysis. It is an artistic expression by the person
making it that is to be used traditionally as centerpiece in the celebration of marriage. There could
not be greater form of expressive conduct. Here... They plan celebration to declare the validity of their marital union and their enduring love for one another.

The State asks this court to compel Miller against her will and religion to allow her artistic expression in
celebration of marriage to be co-opted to promote the message desired by same-sex marital partners, and with which Miller disagrees.

Identifying the interests here as implicating First Amendment protections does not end the inquiry...

Furthermore, here the state minimizes the fact that Miller has provided for an alternative means for
potential customers to receive the product they desire through the services of another talent" -- Miller recommended her competitor to the same-sex couple after refusing to design them a cake.

The ruling goes on to say that "the fact that Rodriguez-Del Rios feel they will suffer indignity from Millers choice is not sufficient to deny constitutional protection."

California law not going off the rails for once? Maybe the world is ending soon.
---

Activist judges at it again.
---

I am kind of shocked.
---

Wow, a smart judicial ruling in California.
---

What a joke.
---

This is really bizarre considering California tends to be one of the most left-leaning states politically.

Good for the cake maker though. No artist should ever be forced to create something they don't want to.
---

Democrats want the freedom of the customer.

Republicans want the freedom of the business.

Good work, Cali.
---

So they can't be forced to design different cakes.
---

that's probably the right decision on free speech grounds. I'd expect the masterpiece cake case currently being decided by SCOTUS will come out the same way.
---

Good. Businesses should be allowed to discriminate on what contracts they want to take, which is quite different from providing general services to everyone who walks through your door.
---

Good. That was selective religious persecution. You wouldnt force a person of any other religion to do anything they claim violates their religion.
---

lilORANG posted...

that's probably the right decision on free speech grounds. I'd expect the masterpiece cake case currently being decided by SCOTUS will come out the same way.

I heard that the Masterpiece Cake guy flat out refused and didn't offer alternatives. If true, that's a big difference from this case.
---

Hope that judge is ready to be doxxed and targeted by internet meanies
---

voldothegr8 posted...

California law not going off the rails for once? Maybe the world is ending soon.

Kern County is mainly Republican. It should then follow that judges from that county may lean conservative and rule accordingly.
---

FWIW I'm a devout Christian from an LGBT-affirming church, and I don't think the Masterpiece case was an example of religious persecution. I just think it's wrong to force businesses to create goods against their will.

Like, if they cite their religious believes as the reason to not make a gay wedding cake, it's really shitty and stupid, but forcing them to do so and turning into a national spectacle is only going to give them an enormous persecution complex.
---

ForestLogic posted...

This is really bizarre considering California tends to be one of the most left-leaning states politically.

As I understand it Bakersfield is one of the more right-leaning areas.
---

Way to go California. Good shit.
---

Bloodychess posted...

Hope that judge is ready to be doxxed and targeted by internet meanies

I wouldn't be surprised if there's already "peaceful" protestors outside his house.
---

Musourenka posted...

I heard that the Masterpiece Cake guy flat out refused and didn't offer alternatives.

He said he'd be willing to sell off-the-rack cakes to a gay couple. He just didn't want to make them a custom cake.
---

lilORANG posted...

Musourenka posted...

I heard that the Masterpiece Cake guy flat out refused and didn't offer alternatives.

He said he'd be willing to sell off-the-rack cakes to a gay couple. He just didn't want to make them a custom cake.

Okay, in that case, I can see the Supreme Court going that way.
---

Frostshock posted...

Businesses should be allowed to discriminate on what contracts they want to take, which is quite different from providing general services to everyone who walks through your door.

This is the key point. If the baker had just flat-out refused to serve that couple or do anything to help them, I would disagree. But the baker didn't feel comfortable making that specific cake, then calmly recommended alternatives to try and help the couple still get what they wanted. That's IMO enough help to not get sued.

But I do have a future concern about this. What if the competitor that this baker recommended answered them the same way and refused to bake their cake? What if every single bakery in the city did the same? How many refusals would it take for the situation to go from "this baker doesn't feel comfortable making this cake because it's against his religion" to "this couple isn't receiving a service they're willing to pay for just because they're gay" and cause an even bigger problem?
---

Calwings posted...

But I do have a future concern about this. What if the competitor that this baker recommended answered them the same way and refused to bake their cake? What if every single bakery in the city did the same? How many refusals would it take for the situation to go from "this baker doesn't feel comfortable making this cake because it's against his religion" to "this couple isn't receiving a service they're willing to pay for just because they're gay" and cause an even bigger problem?

If this extreme was a reality then someone would open up a bakery that caters to their needs and make a lot of money.
---

Good thing no one would ever discriminate against a customer for the color of their skin or anything like that.
---

You guys know that pious lady and her bakery are going to go out of business after all of this, right?

fenderbender321 posted...

billcom6 posted...

Good thing no one would ever discriminate against a customer for the color of their skin or anything like that.

Government was responsible for segregation. Most businesses want customers, period, regardless of skin color. Money will always take priority over racist beliefs.

LOL
---

ZannoL posted...

You guys know that pious lady and her bakery are going to go out of business after all of this, right?

Pretty much. She's entitled to her stupid beliefs ("gays are evil and I can't support them! But I'll make cakes for divorced people, people who have had premarital sex, and more!"), but she shouldn't be surprised when business starts to decline, especially in a blue state like California.

That woman needs to get her trashy, archaic ass out of California. She should go to Alabama or Kentucky, where here business will prosper.

No one will be supporting her bakery after this.
---

Verdekal posted...

Democrats want the freedom of the customer.

Republicans want the freedom of the business.

Good work, Cali.

Customer already has the freedom on choice. Ironically, they want their cake and to eat it too.

The freedom issue here is strictly for business owners, the question is does their freedom supersede the anti-discrimination protections (which let's be very clear, are not freedoms.)

To analogize. basically framing like free speech covers calling someone names but it doesn't guarantee protections against hearing insults. You are arguing that it's freer to not be subjected to unwanted speech.
You're wrong, absolutely wrong.
---

I agree that they should have the right to refuse.

I also agree that actually exercising that right is an awful business decision. Even in the best of cases, it means you lose a sale. Somewhere like CA, you're going to lose way more than one sale. And over something as harmless as two people of the same sex deciding to get married; something that really doesn't affect you in any way (beyond you getting one potential sale).

It's a decision they should have the right to make... but it's a very stupid one.
---

Nice. Justice was served.
---

fenderbender321 posted...

billcom6 posted...

Good thing no one would ever discriminate against a customer for the color of their skin or anything like that.

Government was responsible for segregation. Most businesses want customers, period, regardless of skin color. Money will always take priority over racist beliefs.

But businesses like these are still discriminating, just not necessarily on race. If they think they can get away with it, they will.
---

Shopaholic163 posted...

That woman needs to get her trashy, archaic ass out of California. She should go to Alabama or Kentucky, where here business will prosper.

No one will be supporting her bakery after this.

This is a bad thing
---

The cake was made gay or did it just bake that way?
---

quinntotheflinn posted...

Shopaholic163 posted...

That woman needs to get her trashy, archaic ass out of California. She should go to Alabama or Kentucky, where here business will prosper.

No one will be supporting her bakery after this.

Nice to see folks taking a hard stand against bigotry.

You're so virtuous.
---

I'd like to celebrate this ruling, but are we sure this is a real news site?
---

quinntotheflinn posted...

Shopaholic163 posted...

That woman needs to get her trashy, archaic ass out of California. She should go to Alabama or Kentucky, where here business will prosper.

No one will be supporting her bakery after this.

If you're so sure then why not let it happen organically?
Also, if you think this is wrong, why is it okay in other parts of the country?
---

Holy shit a law in California i actually support....

Breaks into song

"Its the end of the world as we know it"
---

I'd rather not set a precident that these things are okay, though. Anyways, what businesses have gone out of business for discrimination?
---

RIP to her business. It's going to close.

Musourenka posted...

I'd rather not set a precident that these things are okay, though. Anyways, what businesses have gone out of business for discrimination?

The entire slave trade?
---

fenderbender321 posted...

Musourenka posted...

I'd rather not set a precident that these things are okay, though.

Not everything has to be a legal precedent.

No, but if the business is an LLC or incorporated, I'd rather nondiscrimination be a condition of that.
---

Im glad someone in America has sense.
---