California judge backs Christian baker’s conscience rights

A California judge has denied a state agency’s request to punish a baker who declined to make a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding reception, delivering a rare win for a Christian business owner caught in the culture war crossfire.

In denying the injunction Feb. 5, Judge David Lampe of the Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield said the state’s case against Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery, “cannot succeed on the facts presented as a matter of law.” The complaint, filed in October with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), alleges Miller violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

DFEH attorneys in December asked the court to impose the injunction against Miller while they investigated the case and prepared a formal complaint. The injunction demanded Miller stop making all wedding cakes if she continued to refuse to make them for same-sex weddings. But Lampe, in his decision, noted what religious liberty attorneys have said for years: “The right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment outweighs the state’s interest in ensuring a freely accessible marketplace.”

Despite Lampe’s warning that the state will lose its case when it finally comes before him, Charles LiMandri, Miller’s attorney, told me DFEH attorneys refused to dismiss the case during a meeting Friday between the attorneys. Assuming the state would appeal, LiMandri filed an anti-SLAPP motion.

California’s anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) law allows defendants to file a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the lawsuit has no merit and is intended to squelch the defendants’ First Amendment rights.

But DFEH director Kevin Kish told me the defense motion is premature and complicates the appeal decision. The agency has 60 days to appeal the injunction denial, but the anti-SLAPP hearing is March 14, cutting in half the time DFEH has to consider its next move. If it does press forward with the case, it faces an almost certain loss. In rejecting the injunction request, Lampe laid all his cards on the table: Creating a custom cake to display at an event as significant as a wedding reception amounts to protected speech.

“For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment,” he wrote.

Ousted magistrate wins discrimination case

North Carolina will pay former Magistrate Gayle Myrick about $325,000 as part of a religious discrimination settlement stemming from her request not to officiate same-sex weddings. The Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled in Myrick’s favor last year, saying the state could have accomodated her Christian convictions about marriage.

Myrick’s attorneys released details of the settlement last week.

A federal court in 2014 ruled North Carolina’s marriage laws unconstitutional and ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriages—effective immediately. State administrators hastily cobbled together guidelines for judicial officials. Those who failed to comply faced contempt, sanctions, and removal from office. About six county magistrates opposed to same-sex marriage resigned rather than comply, according to court records.

Myrick initially offered to resign but, a few days later, asked her supervisor, Judge Hunt Gwyn, for a concession. Another judge in charge of scheduling recommended shifting Myrick’s schedule so she would not officiate any weddings for two months, after which her term as magistrate would expire.

Believing guidelines from state authorities left no room for religious accommodations, Gwyn denied the request. Rather than be fired or fined, Myrick resigned.

“Reasonable solutions exist that allow government to protect the dignity of LGBT individuals while still ensuring that government employees aren’t targeted for their faith,” Stephanie Barclay, an attorney with religious liberty law firm Becket, told me. “Not only is this a good solution for our society, it’s required by our civil rights laws.”

Employers must show that accommodating an employee’s religious practices would impose an undue hardship in order to refuse an exemption request, according to an amendment to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Defendants in Myrick’s case failed to make that effort. The EEOC administrative judge ruled Myrick’s resignation involuntary and ordered the state to provide back pay, with interest, and benefits.

North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation in 2015 to provide religious accommodations for magistrates whose faith prohibits them from performing same-sex weddings. —B.P.

Coffee, yes; church, no

When Laurel, Md., city administrators discovered a small congregation wanted to purchase and use a downtown building as a non-profit coffeehouse and church, the town council quickly amended the city’s zoning codes—twice—to block the effort.

Wanting to minister to downtown residents, including the underprivileged and homeless, the 20-member Redemption Community Church purchased the building in downtown Laurel in 2015. At that time, its plans to operate a coffee shop Monday through Saturday and a house of worship on Sunday mornings met city code.

But while the church finalized the property purchase, the city amended its zoning ordinance to bar non-profit entities from the area. It also forbid using the building for assembly without a costly exemption application process. The church agreed to operate the coffee shop as a for-profit business and received its operating permit in April 2017. The permit had no assembly restrictions.

But that didn’t stop the city from sending “cease and desist” notices once the church started holding worship services. The city could not point to a use restriction in the coffee shop permit but insisted the church stop holding services or face a fine of $250 a day.

Attorneys for the church argue the city is violating federal law by imposing zoning standards that it does not require of any other establishment in the same zone. Both the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act prohibit zoning laws that “substantially burden” the religious exercise of houses of worship and religious institutions.

The coffee shop remains open for business, but, fearing the fine, the church has stopped meeting for worship on Sunday mornings. —B.P.

With friends like these

Blaine Adamson, owner of the Hands On Originals printing business in Lexington, Ky., has friends in high places. Among them is Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who filed one of 12 “friend of the court” briefs backing Adamson at the Kentucky Supreme Court this week. The state’s high court has agreed to hear the case against Adamson for declining to make T-shirts for a gay pride parade. Bevin called the interpretation of the ordinance used against Adamson an “unprecedented incursion on Kentuckians’ rights of conscience [that] cannot stand” under the Kentucky Constitution. —B.P.

Flood funding finalized

The rains may come and the waters may rise, but houses of worship will no longer be denied federal disaster assistance. The Bipartisan Budget Act, passed by Congress last week and signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday, includes the Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act, introduced by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., which codifies a new Federal Emergency Management Agency policy ensuring churches can apply for aid after the next storm. —B.P.