DENVER — Supporters of the owner of the Lakewood cake shop involved in the same-sex wedding cake case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, have launched several fundraising campaigns. But one of those campaigns has reached more than $12,000 in just three days on GoFundMe.
Created by conservative blogger Allie Stuckey, the fundraising account is currently trending on the crowdsourcing site and has nearly 400 donors.
Stuckey, the author of The Conservative Millennial, said on the site that she is raising money to help Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, cover expenses he said are rising after a reported 40 percent drop in business.
Phillips said that after 23 years of being open, the shop is losing business after he refused to bake a wedding cake for the same-sex couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, in 2012.
Stuckey writes on the GoFundMe campaign:
“Phillips, a Christian, has always opened his doors for everyone-- regardless of their sexual orientation, race or religion. He simply refused to use his artistic abilities to make a cake that directly opposed his religious views. Thus, this case has little to do with LGBT rights or discrimination, and everything to do with the First Amendment, free speech and religious freedom.”
However, those who support the couple argue religious beliefs does not give a business owner, whose shop is open to the public, a license to discriminate.
The case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, was argued before the nation’s highest court on Tuesday. It will be decided by late June.
