Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution

by Elie Mystal

Phillips decided to discriminate against Craig and Mullins because they were gay, and that was a point-and-click violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). Craig and Mullins (after securing a different cake) sued Phillips under the CADA and, in a reasonable world, Phillips would have paid a fine and agreed to stop discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation. But, against this normal operation of a normal antidiscrimination law, Phillips raised an objection under the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. The so-called religious objection to same-sex marriage is always taken at face-value, and it shouldn’t be. Craig and Mullins were not asking Phillips to get married to a man. They weren’t attempting to pay Phillips in sexual favors. They did not want Phillips to put himself inside the cake and jump out and scream “I love gay people” at an opportune moment. They simply wanted Phillips to accept payment for services he started an entire business to render. Phillips’s claim that his religious freedom would be compromised by being forced to engage in his own business is ludicrous on its face. Refusing to do your job because the person paying you to do it has different beliefs than you is not a religious objection, it’s plain and simple bigotry. The Colorado