Syndicated columnist Star Parker has
sided with a Colorado Baker who refused to serve a gay couple.
The baker, Jack Phillips, the owner of
Masterpiece Cakeshop, was found to have violated Colorado's
anti-discrimination law when he refused to bake a cake for the
couple's wedding reception. (The couple, Dave Mullins and Charlie
Craig, married in Massachusetts, because Colorado at the time did not
issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.)
Phillips, who says he's religiously
opposed to same-sex marriage, appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which heard oral arguments this week.
(Related: Anthony
Kennedy sends mixed signals in “gay wedding cake” case.)
In an op-ed published this week, Parker
stated that it was “clear” Phillips was not opposed to the
couple's sexual orientation because “he offered to make them any
cake they wanted, just not one designed for a same-sex wedding.”
“I am a Christian, and I believe
homosexual behavior is sinful,” Parker
wrote. “But as an American, it is no more my business what is
happening in my neighbor's home than it is theirs what is happening
in mine.”
“When we move into the public square,
our focus needs to be freedom. Not forcing me to accepting the values
of others nor them mine. We need law that allows those of different
views and values to live together peacefully, mutually respecting the
ideal of human liberty.”
“By this standard, how can we
possibly rationalize forcing Phillips to produce a cake against his
will, expressing a value anathema to his religion?”
Parker, who is African-American, added
that refusing service based on sexual orientation is not the same as
refusing service based on race.
“No, this is not like refusing to
serve blacks in a restaurant. The spirit of that behavior is racism,
the antithesis of 'securing the blessings of liberty,'” she wrote.
In 2013, Parker, 61, criticized
then-President Barack Obama's support for LGBT rights, saying
that it was turning Americans into “a bunch of zombies.”