Gay Couple: Bakery Wouldn't Make Us Wedding Cake

Do you have a right to not bake a cake for someone? Or the right to not be discriminated against by cake bakers? That's the issue at hand in a Colorado discrimination claim. David Mullins and Charlie Craig went into Masterpiece Cakeshop hoping to get a wedding cake to celebrate their recent marriage in Massachusetts, only to be refused by the shop's owner, who cited his Christian faith, the AP reports. "I felt dehumanized and mortified," says Mullins. He and Craig accuse the bakery of discriminating against at least two other gay couples.

But the bakery owner's lawyer says the owner has a right to deny the couple service. "We don't believe this is a case about commerce," she says. "This is a case about conscience." The ACLU is backing the couple, and filed the discrimination complaint against the bakery on their behalf. "Religious freedom is a fundamental right," its Colorado legal director says. "But someone's personal religious beliefs don't justify breaking the law by discriminating against others in the public sphere." Colorado has approved civil unions, and that law offers no religious protections for businesses. (More gay marriage stories.)