In a decision being celebrated as a win for religious freedom advocates, a California judge ruled late Monday that a Christian baker who faced losing her business because she refuses to bake cakes for same-sex weddings cannot be compelled by the state to do so. The decision comes as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in December in another Christian baker case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in an ongoing wrestling match between religious freedom advocates and LGBT activists who insist that Christian bakers should be compelled to bake cakes for all marriages, not just heterosexual unions.

In the California case, Christian baker Cathy Miller, who owns Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, was facing discrimination charges filed by the state after she refused to make a wedding cake for Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio last August, citing her religious beliefs. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing petitioned the court to issue a restraining order against Miller and her bakery to force the company to make cakes for same-sex weddings or stop making wedding cakes altogether if she refused. READ MORE


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