Trump Administration sides with Christian baker who said Jesus wouldn’t bake a cake for gay people

A notorious Christian baker at the centre of a landmark US court case has now got the backing of the Trump Administration.

Jack Phillips earlier this year claimed that Jesus Christ would discriminate against gay people.

Phillips of Colorado’s Masterpiece Cakeshop is at the centre of a case over anti-LGBT discrimination that is set to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Phillips launched a legal challenge after being found in violation of state anti-discrimination laws for refusing to serve gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig.

The baker refused to make a cake for the couple after he found out they were celebrating their wedding, and continues to insist his religion requires discrimination against gay people.

After 86 members of Congress signed an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court supporting the baker’s right to discriminate, the Trump Administration has now also backed the baker.

The Justice Department on Thursday filed a brief to the High Court saying it backs the Masterpiece Cakeshop.

The Department said ruling against the bakery could create an “intrusion” against the First Amendment “where a public accommodations law compels someone to create expression for a particular person or entity and to participate, literally or figuratively, in a ceremony or other expressive event.”

An official told BuzzFeed News the Department chose to file in the case “because the First Amendment protects the right of free expression for all Americans.”

“Although public-accommodations laws serve important purposes, they — like other laws — must yield to the individual freedoms that the First Amendment guarantees,” the official added.

“That includes the freedom not to create expression for ceremonies that violate one’s religious beliefs.”

The baker is defended by hardline anti-LGBT law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, which has sought to undermine LGBT rights protections in a number of states.

Though the ADF is framing the issue around a religious objection to same-sex marriage, their other cases show a much wider support for anti-LGBT discrimination.