Colorado Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Against Anti-Gay Baker

The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld an earlier ruling by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission that Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips violated the state's public accommodation law when he refused to sell a gay couple a wedding cake in 2012.

From ABC7 in Denver:

Phillips' attorneys asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the ruling, arguing the decision violates Phillips' First Amendment rights. The attorneys argued he was not discriminating against same-sex couples, but rather refusing based on their intended conduct.

Court of Appeals justices, however, pointed out that same-sex couples are the only kind likely to engage in same-sex marriage.

"Masterpiece’s distinction, therefore, is one without a difference," Thursday's decision states. "But for their sexual orientation, Craig and Mullins would not have sought to enter into a same-sex marriage, and but for their intent to do so, Masterpiece would not have denied them its services."

At the time, Phillips said that while he'd be happy to make the couple brownies or a birthday cake, due to his deeply religious beliefs he could not make a wedding cake for a gay wedding.