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

[Swordsmyth]

An attorney for a same-sex couple who were denied a wedding cake (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-bakery-gay-wedding-cake_us_59a5ad31e4b084581a13adcd) by a California bakery says they’ll continue to fight after a judge issued a preliminary injunction ruling (http://www.bakersfield.com/news/judge-david-lampe-rules-for-tastries-bakery-owner-cathy-miller/article_9116d628-0b55-11e8-9eb5-1fe904759af0.html) in the baker’s favor Monday.
Mireya and Eileen Rodriguez-Del Rio first spoke out against (http://www.bakersfield.com/news/tastries-bakery-at-center-of-firestorm-after-refusing-to-make/article_e67dda12-8c52-11e7-b55e-bbacc42729f3.html)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 (http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/tastries-bakery-under-fire-after-reportedly-refusing-to-serve-homosexual-couples), stating that her Christian faith “will not allow me to participate in things that I feel are wrong.”


In an eight-page ruling (http://www.bakersfield.com/tastries-injunction-ruling-pdf/pdf_b4fb4e8c-0b57-11e8-8a36-9b658b7eb697.html) 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 (http://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/kern-county-judge-rules-against-same-sex-couple-suing-tastries-bakery) 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 (http://www.bakersfield.com/news/judge-david-lampe-rules-for-tastries-bakery-owner-cathy-miller/article_9116d628-0b55-11e8-9eb5-1fe904759af0.html). 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 (https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/bakersfield.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/4f/b4fb4e8c-0b57-11e8-8a36-9b658b7eb697/5a79d28c1e6fc.pdf.pdf). “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.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-bakery-refuse-cakes-same-035822734.html

[dannno]

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 (https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/bakersfield.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/4f/b4fb4e8c-0b57-11e8-8a36-9b658b7eb697/5a79d28c1e6fc.pdf.pdf). “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.”

Well that's a new twist on the cake baking controversy.

[angelatc]

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.

What does the housing department have to do with this?

[Swordsmyth]

What does the housing department have to do with this?

It beats me, it sounds like bureaucratic overreach by a zealot.

[dannno]

What does the housing department have to do with this?

I think the article is incorrect, it's actually the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which I would presume enforces the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

[angelatc]

I think the article is incorrect, it's actually the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which I would presume enforces the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

But this isn't a question of Housing or Employment.

[tod evans]

Ya' know they can be put right back in the closet...

[Slave Mentality]

“The difference here is that the cake in question is not yet baked,”

We are dealing with some real brainchild statists here.

[euphemia]

I agree with this ruling. It is what I have always said. A wedding cake is not mass produced. They take days to bake and decorate. They are unique, one-off artistic expressions. It is a commissioned work of art, not a generic print of a random thing. An artist is allowed to decline a commission.

People with deeply held convictions should be allowed to live them out both at home and work.

[fedupinmo]

One of the other bakers said much the same thing in their own defense, that they would be willing to sell a gay couple a cake off the shelf, but weren't willing to bake them a special one or decorate it for them. I can't recall which one it was, though.
It is as it should be.

[euphemia]

A wedding cake is a commissioned piece. The artist can decline the commission.

Wedding cakes are really big deals. Tastings, consultations, special pans, extra large freezer, meticulous and detailed decorating, delivery, set up. The traditional bride and groom things on the top are really expensive. I couldn't afford one when I got married 35+ years ago.

It really cannot be done without participating in the celebration.