In recent years, a new trend of creating “safe spaces” has emerged on college campuses across the country. While the implementation of safe spaces varies between universities, the term is generally applied to certain areas on campus that are intended to be free from bias, potentially offensive ideas, topics of controversy, or other forms of conflict. In most cases, colleges designate specific areas intended to protect students from any potentially harmful or offensive speech that they might encounter on campus. At some universities this concept is being extended further, with entire campuses being designated as safe zones.
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Masterpiece Cakeshop LTD v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was a 2012 case from Lakewood, Colorado that pits First Amendment rights to speech and religion against anti-discrimination legislation. This case originates with a baker, Jack Phillips, who refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple. Phillips told the couple that he did not create wedding cakes for same-sex couples because of his religious opposition to same-sex marriage and because Colorado, at the time, did not recognize same-sex marriages. He also claimed that by creating a wedding cake, he would be using his artistic skills to create speech that endorsed same-sex wedding marriage. The gay couple subsequently filed a civil rights complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission pursuant to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
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