The baker who won a partial victory for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2018 went on trial again in another lawsuit.
This time, it involves a birthday cake for a transgender woman.
According to reports, Autumn Scardina tried to order a birthday cake but Masterpiece Cakeshop’s owner Jack Phillips refused to make one for her.
Scardina, a lawyer, requested a birthday cake that was pink on the inside and blue on the outside to celebrate her gender transition.
She filed a lawsuit with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission but Phillips hit back with a lawsuit against Colorado by claiming he was being persecuted for his religious beliefs.
But Pink News reported that Scardina launched a new lawsuit, claiming Mastery Cakeshop falsely advertised it “be happy to provide a variety of baked goods, including birthday cakes, to all members of the public, including LGBT individuals.”
Scardina believes the baker violated two state laws: the Colorado Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA).
A state judge in Denver knocked back the former citation as Scardina’s legal team did not “establish an actionable unfair or deceptive trade practice… if (they) were engaged in such a stealth advertising campaign, they successfully disguised it within their speech on a matter of public concern.”
The lawsuit will now depend on whether the baker’s refusal to make a cake to honor a sex transition constitutes discrimination.
The court document reads: “Plaintiff need not establish that her transgender status was the sole cause of the denial of services. Rather, she need only show that the discriminatory action was based, in whole or in part, on her protected status.
“Defendants assert they would not have made a blue and pink cake celebrating a gender transition for anyone. Defendants made a near identical argument in Craig, contending that they would not have made a cake celebrating a same-sex marriage for anyone. As did the Court of Appeals in Craig, this court rejects Defendants’ reasoning.”
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