Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips has endured a dozen years of multitude of lawsuits and death threats after refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
But Phillipsā relationship with God has only gotten stronger, Fox News reported.
āOne of the most important things to come out of this is that itās made my faith much stronger and drawn our family closer together and built all of our relationships with Jesus Christ,ā Phillips said.
āItās also taught me that God provides everything we need through these last days of not creating the wedding cakes and the income thatās involved in that. But heās also given us many other opportunities,ā he added.
Cakes for Phillips, who hails from Colorado, are usually his bread and butter. However, he has not made a cake since 2012 when he was sued by the Coloradoās civil rights office after he declined to bake a same-sex wedding cake.
Phillips is a devout Christian and has said he will bake a cake for anyone. He draws the line, however, at cakes with messages he doesnāt agree with.
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that Colorado was hostile to his religious beliefs.
If Phillips thought his legal woes were over, he was wrong.
A transgender attorney asked Phillips to make a cake to celebrate a gender transition.
Phillips declined and the attorney called again later to request a second cake. this one would feature Satan smoking marijuana, to ācorrect the errors of thinking,ā the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has represented Phillips since 2012, said.
After Phillips again declined, the attorney filed a discrimination complaint with the stateās civil rights office. Charges were brought charges against Phillips. The ADF filed a countersuit in federal court and the state agreed to settle the case.
That same attorney filed another lawsuit regarding the same gender transition cake a few months later.
That lawsuit ended last week.
The Colorado Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit on a technicality.
āWe granted review to determine, among other issues, whether properly filed case,ā the Colorado Supreme Court wrote in its opinion. āWe conclude that did not.ā
āThe underlying constitutional question this case raises has become the focus of intense public debate: How should governments balance the rights of transgender individuals to be free from discrimination in places of public accommodation with the rights of religious business owners when they are operating in the public market?ā Justice Melissa Hart wrote in the Colorado Supreme Courtās majority opinion. āWe cannot answer that question.ā
Phillips has lost 40% of his income since he is no longer baking wedding cakes. He has also received death threats.
Regardless, heās grateful for the support he has received from the community and from his legal team over the years.
His lawyers are hopeful Phillips can now live peacefully.
āOur view is that enough is enough between government officials in Colorado and activists in the state. Folks have been hounding Jack for the last 12 years. Itās time to leave him alone ā alone to live his life and operate his business consistent with his beliefs,ā ADF chief legal counsel Jim Campbell said.
Phillips said in 2023 that he holds no malice against the lawyer who came after him for years.
āThis person isnāt fighting against me, this case is against the state and my right to express my religious freedom and do so without fear of punishment in the marketplace,ā he said at the time.
āSo, itās not about a personal issue, even though this person has stalked me, or you know, followed me for multiple years, 11 years at least. But I have nothing to forgive. This person isnāt an enemy,ā he said.