Arkansas jumps in on infamous gay wedding cake fight, AG files amicus brief to support Christian baker

Nov 05, 2023

The 2012 legal battle over a Colorado baker who refused his services for a gay wedding continues unfolding to this day, and its trajectory mirrors what's happening on a national level. Trans cakes have entered the picture, amping up the drama to near "RuPaul's Drag Race" season finale levels.

Can a business owner be forced to do business with someone with whom he so deeply disagrees? It's a question of compelled speech, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin argues in an amicus brief filed today in support of baker Jack Phillips and his right to make straight, cisgender cakes only.

Griffin's argument is part of a 22-state coalition's efforts to get Phillips and his business, Masterpiece Cakeshop Inc., off the hook for baking cakes for gay or transgender people in the future. The effort aims to free Phillips from a pending legal challenge before the Colorado Supreme Court over his refusal to bake a pink cake with blue icing for a client celebrating a gender transition.

Griffin issued this statement Thursday:

"For 11 years, Jack Phillips has been in court fighting for his right to speak consistent with his beliefs. The Supreme Court of the United States has already held that Colorado acted with hostility toward Phillips’ religious beliefs when it tried to force him to create a cake celebrating same-sex marriage. Yet on the same day the Supreme Court decided to hear that case, a transgender activist seeking to ‘correct’ the ‘errors of … Phillips’ thinking’ requested a cake celebrating gender transition—and hauled Phillips back into court when he refused to make it.

"Individuals can't use the power of the state to compel others to profess something they do not believe. That is why I am proud to file this brief to protect all Americans’ religious liberty and free speech rights under the Constitution."

You can read Griffin's full release and background on the great cake debate of 2012 on the AG's website here.

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