California baker wins same-sex wedding cake case

A California Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Tastries Bakery owner Cathy Miller did not have to make a custom cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding. Based on her Christian beliefs, Miller refused in 2017 to design and bake the cake. The state’s Department of Fair Housing and Employment had sued Tastries Bakery under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. The couple, Mireya and Eileen Rodriguez-Del Rio, said they expect an appeal.

What was the judge’s reasoning? The judge said that designing the cake fell under “artistic expression.” That meant Miller’s First Amendment freedom of speech protections under the Constitution superseded the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The judge said Miller’s only motivation was her Christian beliefs, and that her refusal to design cakes for same-sex marriages was to observe and practice her faith.

Dig deeper: Read Keisha Toni Russell’s column in WORLD Opinions on other religious liberty cases going before the U.S. Supreme Court.