Today, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), along with law firm Covington & Burling and Professor Melissa Murray of Berkeley School of Law, filed an amicus brief on behalf of 40 women’s organizations in the Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The Supreme Court will decide whether a business in Colorado may legally refuse to provide a wedding cake to a same-sex couple simply because the couple is gay. In this case, the company brings First Amendment claims based on speech and religion to say that it should not be required to provide a gay couple with any type of wedding cake. Colorado found that the First Amendment did not empower the owner to violate Colorado’s state law prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination and the matter is now pending with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The National Women’s Law Center has submitted an amicus brief arguing that to allow a business to disregard non-discrimination protections would also risk undermining the rights of women to be free from sex discrimination.