While Indiana and Arkansas have garnered national attention recently for passing religious freedoms laws, Colorado has seen its own share of the debate.
Last month, two bills aimed at allowing business owners to follow their religious beliefs in denying services to customers failed in the state Legislature. And several cases involving the state’s anti-discrimination law have drawn the attention of religious activists and civil libertarians. In one, a baker in Lakewood refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.
Other bakers have refused to make cakes with anti-gay slogans. All the cases went to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which ruled against the Lakewood baker and in favor of the others.
Ryan Warner discusses the debate with Mark Silverstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, and Jeremy Tedesco, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal non-profit.
