Trump Justice Department Sides with Anti-Gay Baker in SCOTUS Case

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, despite all of his broken campaign promises, Der Trumpenführer continues to make good on his promise to Christofascists that he would persecute the LGBT community and strive to give them special right to ignore non-discrimination laws and public accommodation laws.  The latest example involves an appeal to the United States Supreme Court by a homophobic Colorado public sector baker who refused to abide by that state's anti-discrimination act and refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.  Rather than siding with the State of Colorado and the U.S. Department of Justice under homophobic Jeff Sessions will side with the anti-gay zealot who is arguing that his "religious freedom" trumps - pardon the pun - both the state law and the rights of LGBT Americans.  The Washington Post looks at this disturbing and disgusting development.  Here are excerpts:

In a major upcoming Supreme Court case that weighs equal rights with religious liberty, the Trump administration on Thursday sided with a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

The Department of Justice on Thursday filed a brief on behalf of baker Jack Phillips, who was found to have violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by refusing to created a cake to celebrate the marriage of Charlie Craig and David Mullins in 2012. Phillips said he doesn’t create wedding cakes for same-sex couples because it would violate his religious beliefs.

The government agreed with Phillips that his cakes are a form of expression, and he cannot be compelled to use his talents for something in which he does not believe.

The DOJ’s decision to support Phillips is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to rescind Obama administration positions favorable to gay rights . . . . Louise Melling, the deputy legal counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the couple, said she was taken aback by the filing.  “Even in an administration that has already made its hostility” toward the gay community clear, Melling said, “I find this nothing short of shocking.”

Since taking office, President Trump has moved to block transgender Americans from serving in the military and his Department of Education has done away with guidance to schools on how they should accommodate transgender students.

The DOJ also has taken the stance that gay workers are not entitled to job protections under federal anti-discrimination laws. 

[L]awyers for Jameka Evans, who claims she was fired by Georgia Regional Hospital because of her sexual orientation and “nonconformity with gender norms of appearance and demeanor,” on Thursday asked justices to take her case.  Citing a 1979 precedent, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit rejected her protection claims.

Taking that case, along with Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, would make the coming Supreme Court term the most important for gay rights issues since the justices voted 5 to 4 in 2015 to find a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry. 

Mullins and Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in July 2012, along with Craig’s mother, to order a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. Mullins and Craig planned to marry in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriages were legal at the time, and then hold a reception in Colorado.

But Phillips refused to discuss the issue, saying his religious beliefs would not allow him to have anything to do with same-sex marriage. He said other bakeries would accommodate them.

The civil rights commission and a Colorado court rejected Phillips’ argument that forcing him to create a cake violated his First Amendment rights of freedom of expression and exercise of religion.  The court said the baker “does not convey a message supporting same-sex marriages merely by abiding by the law.”

As noted, this is part of the larger effort to put Christofascists above the law.  Since many believe the Bible justifies segregation and the subjugation of women, one can only wonder when AG Jeff Sessions - a racist as well as a homophobe - will argue that Christofascists can freely discriminate on the basis of race and gender.  As for my "friends" who voted for Trump, I find it increasingly difficult to view you with anything less than contempt.