Lawmakers Consider Gay Discrimination Policies

DENVER – A House committee starts work Monday on one the session’s most divisive debates — whether businesses should face penalties for declining to serve gay people if the service violates their religious beliefs.

The bills come after a high-profile case in which a suburban Denver baker faces state sanctions for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding.

Jack Phillips has asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s order that he prepare wedding cakes for gay couples.

David Mullins and Charlie Craig went to Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop at 3355 S. Wadsworth Boulevard, with Craig’s mother, in 2012, to order a cake for their upcoming wedding reception.

Phillips informed them that, because of his religious beliefs, he didn’t sell wedding cakes to same-sex couples.

The Commission said Phillips’ refusal violated the state’s public accommodation law that requires businesses to serve customers regardless of their sexual orientation. Phillips’ attorneys argue that decision violates Phillips’ First Amendment rights.