{"id":86578,"date":"2025-12-08T20:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/86578\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:32:09","slug":"supreme-court-denies-petition-from-bakersfield-baker-accused-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/86578\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court denies petition from Bakersfield baker accused discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Supreme Court of the United States<\/a> has decided not to take up the case of Catharine Miller and Cathy\u2019s Creations, Inc. v. Civil Rights Department today.<\/p>\n

The legal battle, which has spanned several years, centers on allegations that Miller, who owns Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, discriminated against a gay couple by refusing to bake them a wedding cake in 2017. The couple subsequently sued Miller.<\/p>\n

Miller, the owner, said she denied the sale based on her Christian beliefs about same-sex marriage. Miller referred the couple to another bakery that she said would fill their order.<\/p>\n

The Department of Fair Employment and Housing claimed the couple was denied full and equal service based on their sexual orientation and accused Miller of discrimination.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS REPORTING: California appellate court reverses ruling favoring Tastries Bakery in discrimination case<\/a><\/p>\n

In February, the appeals court overturned the initial ruling, determining that Miller’s refusal to make a same-sex wedding cake in 2017, citing her religious beliefs, constituted “intentional discrimination.”<\/p>\n

But declining to review her petition, that most recent ruling stands, and the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) issued the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s order leaves in place a key appellate court decision that affirms the civil rights of people all across California,\u201d said CRD Director Kevin Kish. \u201cYou cannot deny someone service by claiming a predesigned, multipurpose cake is protected speech. Every Californian is entitled to full and equal services at businesses in our state. I applaud Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio for speaking out and standing up for their rights. No matter your religion, sexual orientation, or other aspects of who you are, we\u2019re committed to protecting all our communities from discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE REPORTING: Judge rules in her favor of Tastries Bakery in discrimination case<\/a><\/p>\n

The couple was looking for a predesigned cake to celebrate their wedding, but Tastries refused to sell them the cake based on its policy not to sell cakes for celebrations of same-sex unions.<\/p>\n

This specific nature of their request was cited by the appellate court as the reasoning for ruling in the couple’s favor, saying that a predesigned, multi-purpose cake does not count as protected speech.<\/p>\n

In response to the denial, Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California, released the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed the Court chose not to take my case, but my trust remains in Jesus Christ. For over a decade, I\u2019ve welcomed everyone who comes into Tastries with the care and honesty my faith calls me to, and I\u2019ll continue doing exactly that. This isn\u2019t the result I prayed for, but I am sure God will use this for His glory. I will continue to work to use my creative skills to bless others and reflect my faith in Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her lawyer, Ad\u00e8le Keim, senior counsel at Becket, also released a statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cCathy has shown remarkable courage over the last eight years. We\u2019re disappointed the Court declined to hear Cathy\u2019s case, and we are evaluating Cathy\u2019s options for continuing to run Tastries in a way that reflects her faith.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Supreme Court of the United States has decided not to take up the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-86578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}