Denver bakery investigated for refusing to write anti-gay messages on cake

Denver bakery investigated for refusing to write anti-gay messages on cake

The owner of the bakery refused to bake the cake because the customer asked for messages such as "God hates gays" to be written on it, prompting the customer to file a civil rights complaint.

A Denver-area bakery is facing legal action for religious discrimination after it refused to bake a cake that had anti-gay images and phrases on it.

Marjorie Silva, owner of Azucar Bakery, was asked by a customer named Bill Jack in March of 2014 to bake cakes in the shapes of Bibles with phrases like “God hates gays” written on the cake, according to a USA Today report.

The customer also wanted an image of two men holding hands with an “X” on top, according to Silva.

Silva said she read the piece of paper with the directions that Jack had handed her and said she wouldn’t do it, calling it “discriminatory and hateful.” Jack told a local news station that he felt “discriminated against by the bakery based on my creed,” according to the report.

Jack filed a complaint with the civil rights division of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, and the bakery is now under investigation for discrimination. If the agency agrees with Jack, the case could go before the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Jack is head of the Worldview Academy, an organization that describes itself on its website as a non-denominational organization that helps Christians to “think and live in accord with a Biblical worldview.”

Jack describes himself on the site as an teacher who has worked in public schools and who has appeared on national radio and television programs.

Silva likely didn’t violate any laws, according to a University of Denver law professor that spoke to USA Today. Because Silva did not discriminate against an individual, but rather did not want to write a specific message that was contrary to her own beliefs, she is likely in the clear.

It is likely to take a couple of months for the Department of Regulatory Agencies to make a decision.

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