The highest court in Colorado has determined that a transgender woman’s discrimination lawsuit against a Christian baker will not be allowed to move forward.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, Autumn Scardina, a Denver-based attorney, sued Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, after he refused to make a cake — specifically, a pink cake with blue frosting — in 2017 celebrating the anniversary of her gender transition. Phillips is widely known as the baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple’s wedding, citing his Christian beliefs. That matter that ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in Phillips’ favor, albeit on narrow procedural, not substantive, grounds.
The state’s civil rights commission found that Phillips’ refusal to fulfill Scardina’s order amounted to illegal discrimination under Colorado law and issued a $500 fine — a move that was upheld by a Denver judge in 2021. Phillips appealed, and in October 2023, the state Supreme Court said it would consider the case. Phillips, meanwhile, also sued the civil rights commission, as well as the state’s civil rights division, in federal court, alleging discrimination on the part of the state agencies based on his religion. Scardina tried to intervene in that case, but the court rejected that effort, determining that the agencies would sufficiently represent her interests. That case settled in 2019, with the two agencies agreeing to stop pursuing Scardina’s discrimination claim.