Colorado Ain’t Getting Jack: Pushing Too Far

Here are John Stonestreet and Roberto Rivera about the latest from Colorado about religious liberty:

On my New Year’s Day BreakPoint, I said that among the most important stories to watch this year is the ongoing conflict between religious freedom and LGBT rights. I quoted Chai Feldblum, a former Georgetown Law School professor and a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who said years ago she couldn’t think of a single instance in which gay rights shouldn’t take precedence over religious freedom.

Well, not all legal scholars suffer from such a lack of imagination. Even some progressive ones. Writing at Slate, a publication both liberal and pro-LGBT, Eric Segall of Georgia State University urged Colorado to cease its persecution of Masterpiece Cake Shop owner Jack Phillips.

Segall’s commentary was in response to a federal court’s refusal to dismiss a lawsuit for damages filed against the Civil Rights Commission by the Alliance Defending Freedom.

To be clear, Segall thinks Phillips should’ve baked the cake. In fact, he called Jack’s refusal “intolerance” and “bigotry.”

Even so, he concluded that “Colorado should announce that vendors cannot be forced under state law to create expressive items and that custom wedding and birthday cakes are such items.”

Why? It certainly wasn’t out of any sympathy for Phillips or his legal claims. It was because, as Segall wrote, “… the state will lose [Phillips’ case] if it reaches the United States Supreme Court again.” This, in turn, “will make matters much worse for gays, lesbians, and other minorities.”

I’ve no idea what Segall means by “other minorities.” I don’t know of any “expressive item” denied to someone on account of their race or ethnicity for religious reasons. But what’s really important in this article is why Segall thinks Colorado will lose.

Read or listen to the article here: Breakpoint