Denver, CO, August 13, 2015…The Anti-Defamation League applauded the Colorado Court of Appeals’ ruling that Masterpiece Cakeshop discriminated against a same-sex couple in violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act when it refused to bake them a wedding cake. The ruling in Craig v. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Inc. upheld two previous rulings that the bakery cannot refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple based on the owner’s religious and moral objections.

 

ADL Mountain States Regional Director Scott L. Levin issued the following statement:

 

No one should be turned away from a business simply because of who they are and who they love. Colorado’s non-discrimination laws were designed to make sure every Coloradan is treated fairly and equally. Today’s ruling affirms the importance of those non-discrimination laws.

 

ADL filed an amicus curiae brief in the case. ADL and its 19 secular and religiously diverse coalition partners urged the court to reject arguments that religious or moral disapproval is a legitimate basis for discrimination against minority groups.

 

ADL’s brief was drafted by the law firm of Hogan Lovells US LLP, Denver and Washington, D.C. offices. ADL’s coalition partners on the brief were:  Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice; Central Conference of American Rabbis; Global Justice Institute; Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America; Japanese American Citizens League; Keshet; Metropolitan Community Churches; More Light Presbyterians; Nehirim; People For the American Way Foundation; ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans For Full Participation; Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities; Religious Institute, Inc.; Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund; The National Council of Jewish Women; T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; Union for Reform Judaism; Women of Reform Judaism; and Women’s League for Conservative Judaism.