EXCLUSIVE: Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner Speaks Out After Supreme Court Victory
By Jacob Airey
June 16, 2018
https://www.dailywire.com/news/31923...ut-jacob-airey
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision in favor of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop. The establishment was at the center of a religious freedom case after Mr. Phillips declined to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.
He was brought before the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which ruled against him,
and he was forced to take "sensitivity training."
The religious freedom legal aide organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADL) took up Mr. Phillips’ case, bringing it before the Supreme Court where he was ultimately vindicated. The case achieved national headlines and became a focal point for religious business owners, professionals, artists, and many others.
The following is an interview with Mr. Phillips and ADL senior counsel Jim Campbell in which topics covered are the build-up to the case, the outcome, and what it means for religious freedom.
Q: How has your business been affected by the court-case?
Mr. Phillips: Six years ago before the two gentlemen came into my store, I had a good wedding cake business with ten employees, doing what we wanted to do – which is create cakes for special events. We would serve anyone who came in the door.
These two gentlemen came in the door asking me to do a cake for a wedding ceremony celebrating a view of marriage that didn’t agree with my faith’s view of marriage. I told them that I could not make a cake for that event, but I would be happy to make a cake for any other event that they desired. I just could not do this one.
As they left, they swore at me, shouted at me, and later started a social media campaign against me. I started to get hateful phone calls right after that. I’d say within twenty or twenty-five minutes of them leaving, the phone started ringing and I started getting hateful emails.
My life turned upside down with
so much hatred coming toward us. There was a point where my wife and daughter were afraid to come to the the shop because they didn’t know what to expect.
They
eventually launched a lawsuit against us through the Colorado state Civil Rights Commission, which we lost. The commission ruled that I had to change my policies, start creating cakes for same sex weddings against my deeply held religious beliefs. I had to retrain my staff to show them the error of my ways, my philosophy. The staff included my Mom, who was eighty-nine years old. She just retired a couple of years ago. My daughter, my wife, other family members, and friends had to be retrained.
I had to give up my wedding business completely which was
forty percent of our business at the time. I had ten employees and that took me down to four, including myself.
It’s been a crazy ride all the way through and to get this ruling, this last week, was really thrilling. It was a great day for us.
Q: When it was time for the ruling, were you confident? Did you have any doubt, or did you think it could go the other way?
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