7/19/2021
Last month we were endlessly exposed to signs, television ads, and other reminders that June was Gay Pride Month. Signs were posted on store fronts ranging from Starbucks to Nordstrom. I couldn’t help wondering how many of the businesses had been coerced into “celebrating” gay pride. You see, last month I happened to be reading the new book by Jack Phillips, The Cost of My Faith: How a Decision in My Cake Shop Took Me to the Supreme Court. Phillips describes the day his life changed when a homosexual couple asked him to create a custom wedding cake for them. He politely explained that he would create birthday cakes, shower cakes, cookies, or brownies for them—but “I just don’t do cakes for same-sex weddings.” (Phillips also declines to make Halloween cakes or cakes featuring offensive messages. All of these decisions are faith-based.) In response, one of the men shouted profanities loud enough to be heard all over the shop, and gave Phillips the finger. This was followed by endless telephone calls spewing profanity, death threats, pickets, and legal harassment that continues today, ten years later. All because he declined to design a wedding cake for two men. As Phillips has said many, many times over the last decade, he has never refused to serve any customer because of his or her race, sexual preference, national origin, etc. He’s happy to sell them any cake in his shop. He simply won’t devote his artistic skills to designing cakes that feature messages which contradict his beliefs. In a diverse country, we must all be willing to respect the beliefs of our neighbors. This means Jewish cake makers must be allowed to refuse to design cakes with anti-Israel messages, Muslim cake bakers must be allowed to refuse to design cakes that, say, feature images of naked women, and Christian bakers should not be forced to design cakes that offend their deeply and sincerely held beliefs. The fact that Jack Phillips has been continually harassed for a decade is the reason I suspect that many of the businesses that agreed to post signs celebrating gay pride last month did so because they knew what might happen if they declined. They would be Philliped.
Anne Morse is a freelance writer, and the author of “Bedford Falls: The Story Continues”. Look for her next book in early 2022.
