Judge Rules California Bakery Can Refuse To Make Cakes For Same-Sex Weddings

via: www.yahoo.com/news/california-bakery-refuse-cakes-same-035822734.html

An attorney for a same-sex couple who were denied a wedding cake by a California bakery says they’ll continue to fight after a judge issued a preliminary injunction ruling in the baker’s favor Monday. 

Mireya and Eileen Rodriguez-Del Rio first spoke out against Bakersfield’s Tastries Bakery in August, claiming the company’s owner, Cathy Miller, turned them away when they told her they were seeking a wedding cake. At the time, Miller didn’t deny the couple’s claims, stating that her Christian faith “will not allow me to participate in things that I feel are wrong.” 

In an eight-page ruling on Monday, Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe said Miller could continue to refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, as such confections were a form of “artistic expression” and “expressive conduct” and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

California’s Department of Fair Housing had been seeking an injunction that would either force Miller to prepare wedding cakes for same-sex couples, or force her to stop selling them entirely.

Lampe denied this request, and said his decision hinged on the fact that Miller had not yet prepared the wedding cake, The Bakersfield Californian reports. It would have been a discriminatory act, however, if the cake had been on display in the shop and Miller had refused to sell it to the Rodriguez-Del Rios. 

“The difference here is that the cake in question is not yet baked,” the judge wrote. “The state asks this court to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create a cake she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in celebration of a marital union her religion forbids.”

Miller, he added, “provided for an alternative means for potential customers to receive the product they desire through the services of another talent” when she recommended the Rodriguez-Del Rios visit a different bakery. 

The next hearing in the case is set for June.

Miller praised Lampe’s ruling, telling The Bakersfield Californian, “I am very happy to serve everything from my cases to anybody. But I cannot be a part of a celebration that goes against my lord and savior.”
Patricia Ziegler-Lopez, who is representing the Rodriguez-Del Rios, told 23 ABC News in a statement that her clients were “disappointed, but not surprised” by the ruling against the preliminary injunction, and stressed, “There is no lawsuit filed yet.”

“Our fight against bigotry and discrimination is only beginning,” she added.

The news comes as the Supreme Court prepares to grapple with a similar, albeit more high-profile, case. This spring, justices are set to rule on the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and will decide whether Colorado baker Jack Phillips was illegally discriminating against a same-sex couple when he refused to create a cake for their wedding ceremony. 

LGBTQ rights advocates say that decision will be the most significant for the queer community since the 2015 ruling on marriage equality.  

I get it that this is a serious issue, but I'm sorry the idea of going to court over fucking cakes is hilarious to me. Am I The Only One who finds this very silly? Like at the end of the day we're fighting over dessert, if that isn't the most American story of all time then idk what is.

Suuuure, there are much deeper issues in this case, but at the end of the day someone doesn't want to make a cake for you. There are bigger fish to fry, or in this case, cakes to bake.

While I get that the couple in this case is trying to fight for equality I don't understand why they don't just go to another shop? It's fucking California, the gayest state in our union. Home of the Castro. I've never stepped foot in California but I picture it as this gay utopia full of people too busy worrying about their state falling off into the Pacific Ocean to give two shits about who you're sleeping with. Plus I'm pretty sure there are bakeries every quarter mile or so as well. It's all tech companies, yoga studios and bakeries. Get in your Fast Car and drive three blocks, I'm sure you'll find someone more than willing to take your business and make you a lesbian cake for your special pant suit day.  Why poke the homophobic bear here? Haven't you how you don't fuck with people who handle your food?  

Even if you somehow won this case why would you want to give your business to a homophobic bakery? Like if I was a gay dude I would want to support pro gay companies. Just seems to make sense. If they don't wanna serve you, fuck them, take your disposable no children income and go somewhere else. Don't you think if the baker is legally forced to bake for you against her will she's probz gonna mess with it?

What I don't understand are these people who put their "values" over money, the most valuable thing of all. Fuck that shit. I'm a dude who has a price for anything. I'd sell a kidney tomorrow for the right price. Like as I type this I'm get pissed at how stupid these people are economically. It makes me mad that I wasn't alive during the Civil Rights Era because I could've gotten rich. I would've been a great business man back then profiting off of idiot racists who want to cut their potential market down by 10% by not allowing black people to eat there. Idgaf what color you are, as long as your money is green. Same should go for the gays, who cares if you agree with them or not, get your money and call it a day.