Christian baker faces another lawsuit

An LGBT activist has filed a lawsuit against Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who last summer won a U.S. Supreme Court judgment protecting his right to decline to bake custom cakes that violate his religious beliefs. The Supreme Court case centered on a request for a cake for a same-sex wedding, while the new case deals with a cake celebrating a gender transition.

Activist Autumn Scardina filed a discrimination complaint in 2017 with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission when Phillips declined to bake the gender transition cake because of his Biblical beliefs about the unchanging nature of biological sex. Phillips countersued the commission for continuing to show hostility toward his beliefs, and in March, the commission relented and Phillips dropped the lawsuit. Now, rather than going through the Civil Rights Commission, Scardina sued Phillips directly for discrimination in state court on Wednesday, Colorado Public Radio reported. “This latest attack by Autumn Scardina looks like yet another desperate attempt to harass cake artist Jack Phillips,” said Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Jim Campbell, who represents the baker.