Judge orders anti-gay-marriage bakery to end discrimination

Make wedding cakes for everyone or pay penalties.

So ordered administrative law judge Robert N. Spencer on Friday of Masterpiece Cakeshop, a bakery in suburban Denver. The ACLU hauled shop owner Jack Phillips into court at the Colorado Civil Rights Commission last year on behalf of Charlie Craig, 33, and David Mullins, 29. The married couple wanted a wedding cake to celebrate in Colorado, but the cake-maker refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, citing his religious beliefs.

The order requires the bakery to "cease and desist from discriminating" against gay couples, NBC reported. The judge did not issue a financial penalty in this case, but said any continued discrimination would draw a fine.

In July 2012, as the case began to draw national attention, Phillips told the local CBS affiliate that "If it came to that point, we would close down the bakery before we would compromise our beliefs, so that may be what it comes to."

Similar case have been popping up around the country as same-sex marriage becomes more common. A florist in Washington State stands accused of refusing service for a same-sex wedding, while an Albuquerque, N.M., photographer earned the ire of the state Supreme Court in August in a ruling that the business discriminated when it declined to photograph a same-sex couple's commitment ceremony.