A devout Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple said he was almost driven out of business by trolls who flooded him with bizarre and insulting requests after the court case.
In 2012 Jack Phillips, from Colorado, USA, turned away gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig for a request to make them a wedding cake because of his own religious beliefs. The story would go on to make headlines around the world.
A Colorado state court backed Mr Mullins and Mr Craig after they filed against Mr Phillips, but in 2018 the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in a vote declaring the state decision violated Mr Phillips’ religious rights under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
Last week the highest court in Colorado dismissed another case brought against Mr Phillips on procedural grounds. NBC news reported he had refused to make a cake for a customer celebrating a gender transition.
Speaking to the Telegraph, the conservative Christian, who runs the the Masterpiece Cakeshop, said he had been inundated since the first court case with malicious, rude and insulting requests for cakes.
He told the paper: “We had so many requests for so many other cakes.
“We had somebody asking for a wedding cake to be delivered to each of our 50 states. Those kinds of things, just crazy, obnoxious things.”
Mr Phillips said he has had to shut down the wedding cake aspect of his business which he described as previously being the “main part” of his work.
But despite stopping baking masterpieces for nuptials, Mr Phillips still gets random requests for everything from celebrating cannabis use to celebrating divorce.
He has also turned down sexually explicit cakes, requests for images of Satan, and those which were insulting to gay and transgender people.
Mr Phillips adds: “We were a very successful wedding cake business in Denver, well-known throughout the city. And they took that away from us. We’re still in business. Just it’s been going on quite different than it was 12 years ago.
“It’s the lawyers that do all the hard work, I just run a bakery, that’s enough work in and of itself.”
Another negative of losing business is that Mr Phillips has had to halve the number of people he employs. During his tumultuous well-publicised experience in the US court system, Mr Phillips said he also received threats to himself and his business.
In 2012, Mr Phillips said he received a called from someone telling him “I’m gonna blow your head off”.
Recalling the disturbing conversation, Mr Phillips said the person, who has never been traced, said they had a gun and were at one point “10 minutes” from his shop. Thankfully, whoever it was on the phone never turned up.
“I’m on the way to your shop. I’ve got a gun. I’m gonna blow your head off,” the individual said. They called back again and again, telling Mr Phillips how close they were to his cake business, located in a quiet Denver suburb.
The Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF), a pressure group that takes on cases protecting free speech rights, helped fund Mr Phillips costs during the many years of legal wrangles.
Jake Warner, the ADF’s senior counsel, said: “Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone. Enough is enough.”
