In a published opinion, a division of the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected arguments made by Masterpiece Cakeshop—the same store that was party to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Craig v. Masterpiece—and held that the act of baking a pink cake with blue frosting does not constitute protected speech under the First Amendment.
On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review a division of the Colorado Appeals Court’s decision in Craig v. Masterpiece Cakeshop. That same day, Autumn Scardina called Masterpiece to order a cake and told the wife of the store owner that it was for her birthday and to celebrate her transition from male to female, according to the Jan. 26 opinion by Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Timothy J. Schutz. The shop owner, Jack Phillips never spoke to Scardina, but testified that he “won’t design a cake that promotes something that conflicts with his Bible’s teachings.” Phillips further stated that he will not create a custom cake to celebrate a gender transition and that “he believes God designed people male and female, that a person’s gender is biologically determined.”
