Chef Duff Goldman On Gay Wedding Cake Lawsuit At SCOTUS: "This Is Discrimination"

Chef Duff Goldman

Duff Goldman, celebrity baker and star of Food Network's Ace of Cakes, has penned an essay sharing his thoughts on the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

As many know, baker Jack Phillips, who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused to sell a gay couple a wedding cake in 2012 for their reception to be held in Colorado due to his being a "Christian."

Colorado has a long-standing public accommodations law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. Goldman was sanctioned for breaking the state's anti-discrimination ordinance.

Phillips has appealed and lost a couple of times, and now heads to the U.S. Supreme Court to try and fight for legalized discrimination.

In his essay, fellow baker Duff explains why Phillips is wrong.

Here's an excerpt via People:

This is not about the cake. This is plainly and clearly distorting constitutional rights to justify discrimination against a LGBT people.

When a business chooses to open its doors to the public, and then chooses to sell cakes for wedding receptions, it doesn’t have the right to refuse to sell the product to people just because of their sexual orientation, or their gender identity, their race, or their religion.

I take a tremendous amount of pride in the products I create for my customers. As do a lot of people. Plenty of businesses sell products and services every day that include creativity: salons, caterers, retail outlets, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. But that doesn’t mean they are allowed to refuse service to people because they are gay, and it doesn’t mean that providing a service means you endorse an idea or message. It just means you are a public business and as such you are open to everyone in the public. I have a responsibility to treat all of my customers with the dignity and respect they deserve.

We decided a really long time ago that businesses don’t get to discriminate against their customers because of who they are. I mean, permitting business owners to pick and choose who they serve would be the equivalent of displaying a “wedding cakes for heterosexual people only” sign in storefront windows. And, if the Court decides that he can do that, what’s to stop another business owner from putting a sign that says “Men Only” or “Whites Only” or “Christians Only,” or any other sign that allows them to pick and choose?

This is wrong. We know it’s wrong. This is discrimination.

So as a business owner, and a maker of cakes, I am creative in making my products, and following laws against discrimination doesn’t encroach on my freedom of speech. But more importantly, this isn’t about cakes. It’s about discrimination.

Duff has also signed on to a "friend of the court" brief - Chefs for Equality - that has been filed in the SCOTUS case.