FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2018
Contact:
Lauren Gray, NCLR Communications Director
lgray@nclrights.org / (215) 983-3099
NCLR Statement on the Supreme Court Decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission
Legal Director Shannon Minter says today’s decision “does not break any new constitutional ground” or permit businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people
WASHINGTON, D.C.—National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Legal Director Shannon Minter issued the following statement in response:
“Today’s Supreme Court decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop is a narrow, fact-based decision that does not break any new constitutional ground or create any new exemptions to anti-discrimination laws. The Court reversed the state court decision only because it found that the record in this case indicated that the Colorado Commission’s deliberations were tainted by anti-religious hostility. Nothing in the Court’s decision would require or permit the Commission to have reached a different substantive result in protecting the LGBTQ community from discrimination.
Today’s decision leaves intact the longstanding principle that states can require businesses open to the public to serve everyone, even when some businesses believe that doing so violates their religious beliefs.”
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The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. www.NCLRights.org