Posted on 06/04/2014 7:23:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
An order handed down by Colorado's Civil Rights Commission on a local Christian baker forcing him to undergo sensitivity training after he refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding citing his faith is "vague," "lousy" and pointless, says his lawyer.
Last Friday, the commission ruled that Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, could not refuse to bake cakes for gay weddings citing his Christian faith and ordered him to undergo sensitivity training.
In an interview with The Christian Post Wednesday, his lawyer, Nicolle Martin, said the sensitivity training was pointless, because her client does not discriminate against gays, and the order for sensitivity training, which became effective on June 2, cannot be seriously implemented because it is "vague" and "lousy."
"The [sensitivity] training is really for the entire staff and it's for him to conduct training for his staff. It's kind of vague. He just has to report that he's done it. It's very vague," said Martin, who lamented that the haphazard order was as a result of unqualified people sitting on the commission.
"This is the problem where a bunch of lay people are making decisions about someone's livelihood and other people's jobs where the state has decided, has told Mr. Phillips, you don't have any First Amendment rights," explained Martin.
"You must express our message, we are the investigator; we are the prosecutor; we are the judge; we are the jury. And this is what you end up with. A lousy order that is vague and lacking specificity," she added.
When asked why she did not seek clarification from the commission, Martin said she and her client were not allowed to speak.
According to Martin, Phillips is also required to keep a log of every person he refuses service and document the reason why and present that log to the commission on a quarterly basis.
"The order says he must report on any orders whether it be a cake or a brownie or cookies turned away and the reason for doing so," said Martin, who explained that the commissioners had, at one point, suggested that Phillips provide a log of every single transaction highlighting the sexual orientation of the customer.
"Even though the commission [had] suggested that he report on every single transaction and whether the customer was gay, the Attorney General reminded the commission that that would be illegal for Jack to ascertain a customer's sexual orientation," said Martin. "Thankfully, the order was clarified to say report quarterly on any celebrations or orders turned away and the basis for doing so."
CP reached out to the commission for comment Wednesday but did not receive a reply at the time of publication.
According to the commission's website, the bipartisan seven-member group of commissioners are citizens of Colorado appointed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and confirmed by the state's Senate to serve voluntary four-year terms.
"They are selected from across the state to represent both political parties. Two represent business (one of whom represents small business), two represent government, and three represent the community at-large. At least four of the members are members of groups of people who have been or who might be discriminated against because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or age," the website noted.
The commissioners are Katina Banks (D), chair; Raju Jairam (Un), vice chair; Diann Rice (Un); Marvin Adams (R); Heidi J. Hess (D); Dulce Saenz (Un) and A. Susie Velasquez (D).
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO...
and the Baker didn’t even deny service to the homosexuals. He offered to bake them cakes just not a custom order cake.
The commies seem to be more honest and call them Re-education Camps. The 1st Amendment seems now to be null and void. Political correctness trumps 1st Amendment rights.
If this was my livelihood I might have to move someplace else, but at the rate things are going there won’t be anyplace else in the United States to go to before long. If this baker feels able to do the right thing and resist this fascist tyranny I would want to support him.
The idea of the government being able to order “sensitivity training” because one’s religious values don’t fit with the official doctrine is obscene. This is one consequence of leaving the education of our children in the hands of Leftists.
Whatever happened to “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”??
He should memorize all the scriptures condemning the sodomites and share them at every opportunity.
Sensitivity training indeed.
So how will the courts rule on the refusal of Mars as they have refused to sell a knife company their ‘special’ m&m’s) This must be one of those tiered laws bow-boy is touting in Hawaii. Re-education camps = the future of Gitmo?
Whats next, concentration camps?
Hopefully a reckoning with the intolerant secular progressives who want to take all liberties away from people of faith.
It’s been done before~~~it can be done again! Ban together and resist!!
Dear Lord. Really???
I missed the part about loading him and fellow Christians on cattle cars, but that is probably on the next page.
This is revolting.
These orders do not apply to gays and other minorities or whoever the left deem so.
For instance a gay printer could refuse to print church bulletins and fliers, these civil rights commissions wouldn’t even take that case for review.
As far as I know, being black is not a lifestyle choice, and a black person is most likely not doing anything that would warrant a business owner’s decision not to further associate with that person. So, in that case, an argument can be made for having the law step in if the business owner refused to serve a black person based on the person’s race and no other factor.
Whether a person can control being gay—which is still under debate—he or she can certainly control the behavior. And just because a gay “couple” wants to pretend to marry does not and should not give them any right to compel others to play along with their fantasy. It is a totally different situation than being black, which is beyond anyone’s control.
A recent idea from another Freeper, sorry, I don’t remember who it was, is intriguing.
His idea was to post a sign which stated that the entire proceeds of a wedding cake baked for a homosexual wedding would be donated to a Christian cause which supports traditional marriage.
In the name of the homosexual couple!
Whats next, concentration camps?
____________________
Yes.
Could some delicious Alpo be sensitive baked into that cake?, sensitively of course. Very sensitively.
What will they use to enforce the payment of the fine?
And HOW will the commission enforce it?
How will the commission know the training has actually been done?
RE: Whatever happened to We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone??
That went away when it became illegal for businesses to refuse service to someone because of race or ethnicity. Now they add a new protected category — Sexual Orientation.
This is exactly what Mao did.
This is no longer America.
RE: How will the commission know the training has actually been done?
Send a monitor perhaps?
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