It was decided last week that the Supreme Court will hear the case of Jack Phillips, the now famous baker who refused to create a cake for a gay wedding on religious grounds. News that the Masterpiece Cakeshop case would reach the Supreme Court sent liberal media, who has been propping up the case against the bakeshop as a “civil rights” issue, in a tailspin.

NewNowNext claimed, “The Battle Over LGBT Equality Is Playing Out On Masterpiece Cakes’ Yelp Page.” LGBT Nation stated the case as a manipulated question: “Will the Supreme Court allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT people?” whose writer then followed up with, “As a matter-of-fact, since Trump has taken office I’ve worried about the erosion of LGBTQ civil rights.” The New York Times was also quick to misrepresent the case and label Philips in an article titled, “The Baker Who Refused to Serve a Gay Couple.” USA Today went as far as to falsely declare that the Supreme Court hearing will ‘Reopen National Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage’! Their story went even further, claiming that the “Supreme Court will hear religious liberty challenge to gay weddings.” None of this is true, and it’s an incredible misdirection of what’s actually at stake here.

The truth behind this case, however, has absolutely nothing to do with “civil rights” or “LGBT rights” and everything to do with the First Amendment and individual rights. Luckily, the majority of the country sees this case for what it is and agrees. A Rasmussen poll, conducted on June 26-27th 2017, found that 57% of likely U.S. voters believe it should be legal for a baker to refuse baking a gay couple’s wedding cake for religious reasons. Only 29% in the US believe that the baker should be prosecuted for discrimination. Despite the distortions by liberal media, the poll offers some relief that the majority of Americans just aren’t buying how the left is framing this case.

This case has absolutely nothing to do with over-turning gay rights or marriage equality, it has absolutely nothing to do with “allowing” or discrimination. The baker himself, Jack Phillips, has stated that he has no problem serving gay couples – just not baking their wedding cakes. It is important to recognize that. Phillips did not prohibit the couple from buying one of his cakes or being in his bake shop. Phillips did not chastise the couple or lecture them about their orientation. Phillips simply refused to personally create an original cake with an original design that celebrated a same-sex marriage because of his deeply-held religious convictions. He considers himself more than just a baker, but also an artist, which he discusses in the video below. He also has said multiple times that same-sex weddings are not exclusively the only cakes he will not design; he will not design anything remotely erotic or anything pertaining to the occult, among others. You can bet that if an Athiest came in and asked for a cake decorated with the words “God is dead” or a young couple came in and asked for a cake that said “Yay for abortion!” he would refuse those cakes too.

Interestingly enough, in 2014 Colorado Civil Rights Division ruled in favor of a different bakery that refused to design two cakes with anti-gay messages on them. William Jack asked a Colorado bakery to have the image of two groomsmen holding hands in front of a cross with a red “X” over them; another cake, he requested the biblical verses, “God hates sin. Psalm 45:7” and “Homosexuality is a detestable sin. Leviticus 18:22.” William Jack’s case against the bakery was quickly thrown out by the same board that is now prosecuting Jack Phillips on the opposite grounds.

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Should the Supreme Court fall against Phillips, the ramifications for personal liberty are immense; it will open the flood gates to committees of people who are tasked with when to penalize us all for our convictions and beliefs. In much of Europe, you can see this sort of leftist authoritarianism wreaking havoc on all forms of personal expression and convictions from Christians to artists, to even comedians.

The state is not here to regulate when someone has offended someone else, the state is here to guarantee that we are not hampering each other’s freedoms (and that the state is not hampering ours). Forcing Phillips to use his design talents to create a cake that commemorates an event that he personally, and deeply, disagrees with is nothing short of slavery. It is forcing labor against someone else’s will. Should the court be found in Phillips’ favor, it will actually set a precedent across the nation against similar “Civil Rights” type boards and commissions – filled with unelected left-wing bureaucrats – who have been posed a steady and dangerious threat to the First Amendment rights of all Americans.