Same-sex wedding cake controversy

It’s a battle between religious rights and equal treatment. The Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal from a Christian, bakery-owner who refused service to a same-sex couple in Colorado.
The high profile case won’t be heard until the fall, but in the meantime, News 25’s Kendra Turley caught up with a Biloxi bakery owner to hear her point of view on the controversy.
After years of various rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court decided it will hear an appeal from a Colorado bakery owner who refused service to a gay couple due to his Christian background. Attorney Diana Ellis said, “I’m glad they’re hearing it. I think it’s an important issue. I think it’s important for us to determine whether or not people have the right to discriminate essentially.”
The same-sex couple filed a complaint against Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado after Phillips refused to design a cake for their wedding reception in 2012. The owner of Electrik Maid Bake Shop in Biloxi, Nona Balius, tells News 25 sexual orientation should not be a factor when conducting business. “We never ask who the couple is marrying or how they’re getting married or what religion they are or anything like that.”
A Colorado state court ruled against Phillips in 2015, saying the state’s public accommodation law did not allow the baker to refuse the couple’s request. “What happens if he doesn’t believe that a couple that’s been divorced before should marry? Is he going to discriminate against them? Or a mixed-race couple,” said Ellis.
There is not a federal law that requires businesses to serve all customers with no regard to their sexual orientation, but over 20 states have public accommodations laws that prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Balius believes private owners should have the right to serve who they want. “But on the other hand, I think that you’re in business and I think that business has to cater to the public.”