By Filings on
Society & Culture
Jack Phillips
Religious Liberty
Courts
Transgender Politics

“Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips went one-for-two in court on Thursday. A Colorado court dismissed one claim brought by a transgender customer who sued Phillips after he declined to design a cake that celebrated the customer’s gender identity. But the court also refused to dismiss another of the customer’s claims.” - WORLD

Discussion

Mon, 03/08/21

…whether someone is coordinating these attacks in Phillips, and whether RICO applies. There should, at the very least, be some recourse for people who are targeted by activists for “lawfare” this way.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Mon, 03/08/21

So why can Twitter refuse to serve people who want to say certain things but Jack Phillips cannot refuse to serve people who want to say certain things? A cake, just like Twitter, is a medium of expression and a private company serving the public.

As before, the idea that the government can force people to say certain things is troubling, even if they are a business. But the fact is that the government is not forcing Twitter to say certain things and there is a lot less of a ground for Twitter’s refusal than Phillips, since Twitter is not forced to do anything. Phillips actually is.

Tue, 03/09/21

Larry,

After Amazon pulled Ryan Anderson’s book on transgenderism, Anderson did an interview with World on February 26. Scroll down here: https://world.wng.org/radio/worldandeverything

They discussed the question of publisher versus…can’t think of the other word used, but it amounts to a neutral medium that merely passes along the content of others.

Anderson’s best reply was, “Sure, let Amazon have an acceptable material policy. Show us the policy. Show why my book on transgenderism clashes with your sincerely held beliefs. Then show how you’ve applied that policy consistently.” E.g., why is Amazon still selling the Communist Manifsto, and an academic book defending certain aspects of pedophilia, and a bomb-making manual?

When I’ve thought through the cake shop case and similar cases (should SEPTA [transit authority in Philly] have to carry anti-Islam ads), I’ve tended to think the biggest issue—both as an American and as a Christian—is the compelled speech issue. How can anyone be forced to express or promote something that they do not believe?

I believe that one of the points that let Jack Phillips continue as-is is that somewhere they demonstrated that the state had showed animus toward him. To me, that’s flimsy. The state could have the best of motives and the kindest of approaches, and still be dead wrong to force someone to express something they don’t believe.

Michael Osborne
Philadelphia, PA