A Christian baker’s refusal to sell a basic three-tiered wedding cake to a lesbian couple violated a California civil rights law and amounted to intentional discrimination, a state appeals court has decided.
The California Fifth Appellate District issued the decision on Feb. 11 in a case brought by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) against Cathy’s Creations Inc. in Bakersfield, finding that the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act requires businesses to offer equal access to goods and services to protected groups, including same-sex couples.
Although a trial court sided with Tastries Bakery owner Catharine Miller, who holds sincere religious beliefs that marriage should be between a man and a woman, the appeals court found that Miller’s decision not to sell the cake amounted to intentional bias, according to the court’s decision. That is the case even though Miller referred the couple – Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio – to another business where they could obtain a wedding cake, the opinion says.
“Despite that the underlying rationale for the policy is rooted in a sincerely held religious belief about marriage, held in good faith without ill will or malice, the policy nonetheless requires a distinction in service that is based solely on, and because of, the end users’ sexual orientation,” the court said. “The relevant and undisputed facts about the policy and its application here necessarily establish intentional discrimination.”
The defendants’ position that the CRD showed hostility to Miller’s beliefs was not supported by the facts, the court said, and there was no violation of the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.
But Miller’s attorney, Charles LiMandri, said he would continue the fight within the legal system to ensure that her freedom to live according to her faith and do creative work is upheld.
“While we are deeply disappointed by the appellate court's decision, we remain steadfast in our commitment to defending Cathy Miller's religious liberty rights,” LiMandri told the Southern California Record in an email. “This case is not just about Cathy Miller – it's about protecting the rights of all Americans to live and work according to their deeply held beliefs.”
In 2018, a similar case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned a Colorado court’s decision that a baker had violated a state nondiscrimination statute by not providing a cake to a same-sex couple.
The CRD said the appeals court outcome makes clear that all California residents have the right to equal access to businesses’ products regardless of sexual orientation.
“This decision upholds the longstanding principle guaranteeing all Californians full and equal access to services and goods in the marketplace,” CRD Director Kevin Kish said in a prepared statement. “I commend Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio for their commitment to this core civil right. No matter who you love, where you come from or who you are, you are protected against discrimination.”
The appeals court stressed that equating the referral of the couple to another business to “full and equal access” to the marketplace would undermine the anti-discrimination basis of the Unruh Act.
“Under such a rule, business establishments would be free to refuse service to anyone on account of protected characteristics so long as they told those customers there was another comparable business in existence confirmed to have no objection to providing service,” the court said.