Colorado baker sued for refusing gender transition cake

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado baker who won a partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple went on trial Monday in yet another lawsuit, this one involving a birthday cake celebrating a gender transition.

Autumn Scardina, a transgender lawyer, attempted to order a birthday cake that was blue on the outside and pink on the inside on the same day in 2017 that the Supreme Court announced it would hear Jack Phillips' appeal over his refusal to make a gay couple's wedding cake.

Scardina's lawsuit is the latest in a series of cases around the country involving the rights of LGBTQ people and religious objections of merchants — an issue that remains unsettled by the nation's top court.

On Monday, during a virtual trial being conducted by a state judge in Denver, Scardina said that Phillips had maintained that, as a Christian, he would sell any other type of product but opposed making the wedding cake for a same-sex couple because it involved a religious ceremony.

She said she called Phillips' Masterpiece Cakeshop to place the order after hearing about the court's announcement because she wanted to find out if he really meant it.

When her lawyer Paula Greisen asked whether the call was a “setup,” she said it was not.

“It was more of calling someone's bluff,” she said.

In opening arguments, a lawyer representing Phillips, Sean Gates, said his refusal to make Scardina's cake was about its message, not discriminating against Scardina, echoing arguments made in his defense in the legal battle over his refusal to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins in 2012. With Phillips getting media attention since then, he could not create a cake with a message he disagreed with, Gates said.

“The message...