Today, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that the baker, Jack Phillips, "did not get a fair hearing on his complaint because the Colorado Civil Rights Commission demonstrated a hostility to religion in its treatment of his case," NPR reported.
The court ruled narrowly based on the commission's conduct, and the decision "strongly reaffirmed protections for gay rights and left open the possibility that other cases raising similar issues could be decided differently," said the New York Times.
But others are still concerned about the ruling's impact. As Sarah Posner wrote in The Nation, the decision sets up a "supposed conflict between LGBTQ equality and religious liberty, and has adopted a potentially wide-ranging definition of government 'hostility' to religion." Posner also feared that the ruling "will embolden other Jack Phillipses to refuse to serve LGBTQ customers."
Reverend Irene Monroe, a syndicated religion columnist, told Boston Public Radio that the ruling couched discrimination in the guise of religious freedom.
"What we see here is codifying discrimination," Monroe said. "This is really a God vs. gay narrative here."
