A Christian cake designer is facing the full wrath of the California government because she follows the Bible’s teachings on marriage. This sort of anti-Christian targeting is something I write about in my upcoming book, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming: Can America Be Saved?”
Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries in Bakersfield, is appealing a California Civil Rights Dept. ruling that determined she had discriminated against a pair of lesbians in 2017 when she declined to create a wedding cake.
Instead, Miller referred the couple to another baker in town.
The California Superior Court of Kern County ruled in favor of Miller’s right to freedom of religion and expression. And now the Civil Rights Dept. is filing an appeal.
Thomas More Society is representing Miller and they said the Civil Rights Dept. “persists in accusing Miller and her company of intentional discrimination against two women for their sexual orientation, in violation of California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.”
In the seven years since the California Civil Rights Department first took legal action against Miller for her Christian beliefs, Miller and her staff have lost business, been accused of being bigoted and racist, criminally harassed, and even targeted with death threats.
Tim Wildmon, president of American Family Association, vowed to stand alongside the California baker.
“Under enormous pressure from the LGBTQ community to embrace the ideology of sexual and gender radicals, many Christians are folding,” Wildmon said. “They prefer to say nothing rather than risk being labeled as a bigot or hater. But there are some champions –– like Cathy Miller –– who stand firm under the hailstorms from the left, maintaining fidelity to Christ and the truth of Scripture. The faithful in the body of Christ should stand in prayer with Cathy and others like her, asking God Almighty for grace and strength in the battle.”
Charles LiMandri, Thomas More Society special counsel and partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, observed the irony that a law intended to “protect individuals from religious discrimination was used to discriminate against Cathy for her religious beliefs.”
As a devout Christian, Miller established guidelines that were in accordance with her faith and sincere religious beliefs, in order to manage Tastries’ custom bakery business. Because of the symbolism of wedding cakes and Miller’s Biblical belief that marriage is intended to be between one man and one woman, when approached in August 2017 to design a cake for a wedding between two women, she referred them to another bakery. A few weeks later, in October 2017, Miller found herself under investigation by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now renamed as the California Civil Rights Department).
“Cathy didn’t intend to cause any harm, she was just trying to follow her faith and her conscience and stand up for what she believes in – yet do so in a respectful and polite and loving way.” LiMandri said.
The attorney added that Miller would have been happy to sell the two women any pre-made items, but declined to grace their celebration with her personal artistry, which is always custom-designed to match the client’s event. Doing so would be tantamount to approval, which Miller could not give.
Adèle Keim, senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said, “Targeting a family-run bakery because of the owner’s religious beliefs is meanspirited, illegal, and deserves no place in our society. California officials should have never started this campaign against Cathy and her bakery.”
The Becket Fund is co-counsel in the case.
“California should let Cathy bake in peace,” Keim said.
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