Jack Phillips is the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado.
But he refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
He objected on religious grounds.
The couple complained to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which found that he was in violation of Colorado’s anti-discrimination law.
The case drew major attention, as most journalists and legal observers expected the Supreme Court to issue a landmark ruling on the First Amendment’s freedom of religion clause.
But on Monday, the Court reversed the Commission’s finding on narrow grounds (https://coloradopolitics.com/supreme-court-sides-with-colorado-baker-on-same-sex-wedding-cake/).
Phillips, who is in religious ecstasy, has just told associate solitary reporter Lewis Thompson III that he’s been tapped to be the next president of Focus on the Family, a Christian conservative organization in Colorado Springs which opposes same-sex marriage.
Focus on the Family was founded in 1977. Its mission is "nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide." It promotes abstinence-only sexual education; creationism; school prayer; and traditional gender roles. It opposes abortion; divorce; gambling; and LGBT rights, particularly LGBT adoption and same-sex marriage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_on_the_Family).
With $95 million in revenues, 640 employees, and hundreds of volunteers, Focus on the Family is a major player in the culture wars.
The USA’s culture wars were, of course, largely instigated by Republicans pushing their social conservative issues, while Democrats are, generally speaking, welcoming and inclusive.
Focus on the Family’s current president, Jim Daly, told Thompson that in all humility, he’s glad that a rock star in the anti-gay community such as Phillips will be taking over.
“After two years or so running Focus on the Family,” Phillips told Thompson, “I’ll be running for Governor in 2022, as a Republican, of course.”
“I am well aware that Democrat Cary Kennedy will be Colorado’s next governor, but she has a lot of support in the LGBTQ community.”
When Colorado Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll learned about Phillips’ plan to run for governor against Kennedy in 2022, she told Thompson that Kennedy is guaranteed to win a second term.