injustice are just the same. the reality of discrimination is it is not just about the person, but it is also about those who are impacted -- a married couple whose experiences --face discrimination at every turn. [indiscernible] years after their son was born, he was denied the opportunity to attend day care with his friends just be has -- because he had to wo moms. he and his community are living in a world that stigmatize their family, denied the opportunities as those of other children. not the world we want for the next generation. it is time to fulfill the promise of equality for all our families with no exception. applause]d good morning. [indiscernible] includes all of us, regardless of whether you are lesbian, a, black,l, or transgender, that you know, or a person with a disability. not get to pick who they serve and who they will not this country has a long and sordid history of using religion --justify the rights justified the denial of rights -- this is not a case about religious liberty. it is about discrimination. ee, one ofrs' committ the country's oldest racial justice organization, is proud to stand with solidarity with community college for equal justice under law. -- on the today, basis of sexual orientation, plain and simple. we cannot afford to turn the clock back to a dark era in which business owners used religious liberty as a false basis for justifying discrimination. but i would be remiss if i decided not to say a word about this justice department. this justice department under jeff sessions is standing on the wrong side of history. [cheers] it is shameful that this justice department sided with the anti-gay activist group alliance defending freedom -- alliance defending freedom is a group that opposes -- that prohibits lgbtq discrimination. [indiscernible] there will be a whole bunch of people coming out the steps. got postponed a little bit. [indiscernible] [cheers] we will not stand by silent up now. we have called this justice department out -- colorado's --ke by businesses -- [indiscernible] by ensuring that people from different backgrounds -- [indiscernible] open to everyone regardless makeeir background, to sure that minority communities are not relegated to be second-class is. -- citizens. [indiscernible] the court should reject the plaintiffs' claim. the closing of american race,acy -- regardless of lgbtq's data scum national national lgbtq status, origin -- [indiscernible] -- we will not be a nation divided. we will fight for equal justice under law for all. equal justice under law -- equal justice under law, businesses should be open to all. equal justice under law, businesses should be open to all. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> hi. hancock.am jeff [indiscernible] district's first production -- and have been around since 2011. our mission is bringing together through extraordinary beer, passion for our craft, and wherein am i? pride for our community. we consider ourselves trailblazers. we have welcomed other brewers into the community and are underscored by the value of abundant. as a business, we wear our collective hearts on our sleeves and are involved in many social issues. andalue inclusiveness equity in all forms, welcoming the public to our business being foundational to us. we want everyone to know we want you here so we can share our art with you. we have worked on our own and with groups like collective action for safe spaces to build our brewery as a safe place for all individuals. now more than ever is a critical time to be engaged right now in this country, in this world. silence is a luxury none of us can afford. today is the opportunity to stand up together for our community and d say our patrons, our public, our humanity, and the world. we want to live in it. >> we understand how a product can be art. consider the beer we brewed to be art. beer brings people together. it sufferers discussion and as more value to the site -- to a society. art is the opposite of divisive this. invoking discrimination as part of the creative process defeat the entire concept of art and makes no sense to us at all. this year we partnered with the the blade to create a charitable beer for pride week. we received over 30 submissions from local artists and firms weresome more fun, some controversial, some had hidden meanings. one just said love. all were art and were meant to be consumed by anyone and everyone. it is important for us to speak up today at this rally because we want our community to know we are here for you. these are our values and we cannot just sit back and expect others to fight the fight. [indiscernible] >> what do you want to be when you grow up? always the same. i do not want to be poor because my family was very poor. i would tell the grown-ups that i want a family because my father left my mother with six children and she had to raise all of us all by herself without the blessing of a father at home. to bed tell them i wanted a firefighter, and they taught us all our dreams would come true indian knighted states of america if we believed in and had faith in god, if we went to school and got a good education, if we respect the grown-ups and treated other children likely wants to be treated. he said all of our trains would come true. i was raised on faith and patriotism. childhood dream came true. i became one of the first african-american firefighters in -- shreveport fire demand robert hurt ultimately, i became the chief and after nine years i was appointed to fire chief in shirley franklin. a few months later, i was recruited serve at the highest fire official position in the country, the united states fire administrator under president obama, and i was confirmed by a bipartisan congressional committee as the nation's highest official in the united states of america. months, the new mayor of atlanta recruited me back to the city of atlanta where i served him faithfully for five years. two years after my return, i was designated the fire chief of the year by "fire chief" magazine. god had blessed me with a fairytale career. in 2014, my childhood american dream was abruptly halted because i wrote a book for a christian bible study on my own time that emphasized meant to be the husband's and father's and leaders that we have been called to be and that through crisis all things are possible. tooklanta city official issue with a few paragraphs i wrote in my book that described the big a bowl -- biblical view of sexuality. the city of atlanta suspended me and proceeded to conduct an investigation. the investigation was to determine if i had ever to scrimmage it -- ever discriminated against anyone. it concluded i had never discriminated against anyone. however, i was terminated anyway. wasn my history and work, i stunned at writing a book, encouraging men to be upstanding husbands and honorable fathers, jeopardize my career. the city's claim i was treating people and equally was particularly troublesome to me, because in my life as an african-american, i have experienced firsthand the negative attitudes, consequences, the slurs of discrimination because of the color of my skin. i lived with a, conviction that should i ever be in the position of leadership, i would never allow anyone to endure dissemination. in atlanta i created what was fire rescuetlanta doctrine, which established a culture of justice and equity for the entire department and sought to eliminate all isms, sexism, racism, cronyism, territorial listen, any ism that would disrupt the atmosphere of work that cause our women and men to serve our community in a highest capacity. i have been sensitive about making sure people felt valued and included. that is why what i have experienced has been particularly hurtful and quite frankly outrageous. it is still unspeakable to me as an american that the very things that fostered my --fessional achievements [indiscernible] in our country, genuine tolerance must be reciprocal. no one deserves to be -- [indiscernible] >> are still fighting against the rights of americans to marry the people they love are wanted defendare what again to their hate actions. a decision in this case in favor of a constitutional right to discrimination would open the floodgates to further discrimination against women of color, transgendered women, single women, working women, immigrant women. all of us are at risk. we all know that discrimination -- [indiscernible] and it is wrong. we stand on the steps to remind the supreme court -- [indiscernible] they must find in favor of the colorado civil rights commission, in favor of charlie craig and david mullins, and in ther of those words justices see every time they walked to these doors -- "equal justice under law." thank you very much. >> to be fired for something you do outside of them expressing your faith -- >> good morning. [indiscernible] [cheers] [indiscernible] the l, the b, g, t -- we are a powerful community. some people around the country do not see you or you or you, but i see you. and therean of faith, are other faith-based leaders are today who do not believe you or i are -- this baker says it is against his religion -- -- he should know that god loves everyone. [indiscernible] believer, he says, in the bible. but you whosaid, are listening, i say, let your enemies too good -- do good. [indiscernible] we must do the same thing to him and others like him. bakerese people like the on the got to know us as lgbtq mitzi from inside our hearts -- community from inside our hearts -- [indiscernible] because we are the lgbtq community. i see you. [cheers and applause] >> good morning. or of a baptist church in rockville, maryland. [indiscernible] yes, baptists, baby, baptists. [indiscernible] so often these arguments -- [indiscernible] [cheers] and that includes our lgbtq community -- people must be respected, all people must be honored, all people must be loved. with all due respect to those who would make this refusal to serve someone a cake over a racist issue, as people of faith, what part of faith makes it ok to harm brothers? what part of their beliefs make it ok to humiliate, embarrass, and create fear in others? no one should be turned away from a business because of their sexual orientation, gender, race, their gender identity, or their religion. when people of faith take actions that discriminate against others, that is what goes against the basic tenets of faith. faith and discrimination should not go hand in hand. faith should always be on the side of inclusion. never be on the harm,f oppression, exclusion, or hate. when people of faith advocate exclusion based on their religious beliefs, they employ -- represents the values of their faith. this proclaims to other a false set of values, contrary to what so many faith traditions proclaim -- love, love one mercy., do justice, have christian season of advent we are in right now, it is a time that we look with hope for the future. i hope is that this court will understand -- that this argument -- [indiscernible] remember today that at least one baptist in the crowd -- [cheers and applause] thank you so much. the national lgbtq chamber of commerce -- [indiscernible] >> good morning. i am the senior counsel at a fund for religious liberty. we filed a brief in the masterpiece case are doing the government should never compel someone to participate in a religiousainst their convictions. we know being asked to participate in a wedding is no small matter. religion for many millennia have carried deep religious and cultural significance, and there are many early reasons -- many reasons where someone might be opposed to any particular -- the idea the government can compel one to participate in a wedding or bar mitzvah or baptism or any other event that is so full of cultural and religious significance is troubling. and frankly the first amendment cars -- were cars -- requires -- which is no more for someone to support someone else's celebration that it would support someone to raise the flag for the pledge of allegiance. isating a custom-made cake clearly part and parcel of celebrating a wedding, and jack phillips should not be forced to do that any more than you or i sing at aforced to wedding or serve as a wedding or sit through a wedding with a big smile on our faces. as a nation, we can learn to live and let live and not take extreme offense at other people's choices or force them to participate in our choices. i'm optimistic the court will agree and hold that the government cannot force anyone to celebrate or clap for or ceremonymeone else's against their own religious convictions. thank you. eric baxter with the becket fund for religious liberty. i'm sorry? >> are you confident you can win this case? >> i'm not counsel in this case. we filed a brief. >> and the outcome? >> the arguments focused on speech, and the justices seem to have questions and concerns about that issue. toward the second half of the argument, the issue of freedom of free exercise, religious exercise, came up, and the court seemed more concerned about the encouragement on the treasury on mr. phillips'exercise. commissioners trust open bias against religion. they called it a despicable piece of rhetoric and spoke out religious. -- jack's beliefs. there was more concerned about the free exercise peace river i feel confident the court will accept the non-coercion principle that no one should be forced to participate in a very expressive event without their religious content. thank you. applause]d >> i want to say i am the group forunsel of a religious liberty. we filed a brief because rid of --s liberty is protected because religious liberty is protected. making sure they uphold these public accommodation laws, not denigrate any believes, but because these laws protect against discrimination and protect religious liberty. i am the president and general counsel for alliance defending freedom that defendant objected a. jack today.ndant the questions were extended. the court session was much longer than the scheduled our because there was so much interest on all sides of the case. this is the first time in american history where there is a serious consideration of compelling people to deliver a message that is contrary to their beliefs. freedom of speech means the ability to refuse to speak a message you do not agree with and the freedom to speak includes the context where other people might be offended. we recognize on each side of this question people will be offended. if being offended was enough to curtail someone else's religious freedom or their freedom of speech, this would no longer be the same country that was founded over 200 years ago. because the essence of america has been for a long time, i may disagree with everything you say, but i will defend to your death the right to say it. in this case, it is worse. what people should be dissent -- wagner willstian come up here in a second did a great job. she was peppered with a lot of questions. i think the court heard from four able lawyers, but at the end of the day we have a good chance of prevailing in this case, but it is going to be close. the court paid a lot of attention to it, and i expect to see a very vigorous discussion among the judges. kristen -- oh, sorry. good morning. it is my privilege to be here with jack and stanford. i have a flower shop in washington state, and we have been in business for a long time. i have asked the court to take our case. i have had my flower shop for many years, and it has been my communityto be in our for three generations for prompt students. i tried to work my business according to my faith, to all types of people. when of the gentlemen who is suing me has been my customer for over 10 years. i have custom created designs for him for many years. view rob more as a friend and a customer. my store and i thoroughly enjoy working with him. because of my faith, when rob came into my store to talk to me about his same-sex wedding, i referred him to three other florists, which i knew would do him a good job. i never turned down rob because of who he was. i decline to celebrate an event that goes against my faith. rob tomorrow, if you walked into my shop, i would hug him, ketchup, and wait on him up, andher -- catch wait on him for another 10 years. we could lose everything we have that we have saved give our children to our grandchildren. simply because i believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. but to lose everything we have, our home, our retirement, our life savings, simply because i referred a longtime customer for one event -- jack and i are standing not just for us, but for all of you. [indiscernible] work with her conference, and if the government can come in and tell you what to do or they will destroy you, then we do not live in a free america. thank you. >> good morning. i am jack phillips, the owner of masterpiece cake shop. i serve all who walk through my doors, people from all walks of life. i've spent many years honing my craft as a cake artist, combining baking with my love of sculpting, painting, and sketching. and i love my craft because i get to turn a cake into a canvas, where i get to express ideas, celebrity events, and bring joy to my community. of my favorite parts of my job has always been creating wedding cakes. designing them, creating them allows me to use my artistic vision to create works of art that are beautiful and distinctive and mark the beginning of something sacred. though i serve everyone who like many my shop, other creative professionals, i do not create custom designs for events or messages that conflict with my conscience. i do not create cakes or halloween, for homosexual or anti-american things, or disparage people, including people who identify as lgbt. it is never about the person, never about the person making the request. it is always about the cake. it is always about the message the person wants the cake to communicate. i'm here at the supreme court today because i respectfully declined to create a custom cake that would celebrate a view of marriage in direct conflict with my faith's core teachings on marriage. i offer to sell the two gentleman who are suing me anything in my shop or create a design on a cake for any other occasion. for that decision, which was guided by an established set of religious beliefs, i have endured a five-year court battle. it has been very hard on me and my family. -- there many tears have been many tears -- many difficult -- many difficult days for us. i have had to stop creating the wedding art that i love. i have faced death threats and harassment. stopping the wedding art has cost us much of our business. so much so that now we are struggling just to make ends meet to keep the shop afloat. it is hard to believe that the government is forcing me to choose between providing for my family and my employees and violating a relationship with god. that is not freedom. that is not tolerance. i'm profoundly thankful to the united states supreme court for taking my case, and i hope and pray they will affirm the freedom of artists to peacefully express themselves in ways consistent with who they are. thank you. >> i can stand on my toes. i argued on behalf of jack phillips today. what a great privilege it was to stand on his behalf and on behalf of all creative professionals and their right to be able to speak and live consistent with their beliefs regardless of what those police are on this particular subject. jack phillips loves answers everyone -- laws and servers everyone, and a-- colorado's position was so extreme today that it said that the state could actually compel all kinds of artists, filmmakers, photographers, graphic designers, who are paid to express messages that violate their identity. this court has never, never compelled artistic expression or political or ideological expression, and if it does so now, we will have less ability, pluralism, and diversity. as kennedy suggested today during the argument, tolerance requires respect for those with whom we disagree. and colorado has neither been tolerant respectful of mr. phillips. for that reason, we ask the court to reverse the lower's decision. thank you. [indiscernible] i think it is hard to know where justice kennedy is at. i do not want to speculate on that. i was pleased to know the court is considering both sides of this issue and that dignity cuts both ways. mr. phillips has a great amount at stake, and the forcing people to violate the provisions is something the constitution does not permit. whether or not cake baking is speech? >> anytime anybody sketches, skulls, or hand paints, that is speech -- sculpts, or hand paints, that is speech. >> [indiscernible] has set areme court low bar on what qualifies as speech, and has asked him is the artist communicating something, other it analogous to protected forms of speech? hairdressing is not, but sketching, sculpting, and hand painting is. thank you very much. [indiscernible] >> where hardened that what recognized that what the bakery wants to do would be an affront to the gate committed. that is something that has been rejected time and time again. we are hopeful that he will do the same again in this case. there is only one thing i regret about this morning, and that is that the court not get to hear charlie directed. it is my privilege to stand here today with them. i cannot tell you how proud i am of dave and charlie telling their story. is not easy to tell the country how it felt to be embarrassed and shaped in a public place simply because of who you are. that is exactly what dave and charlie have done so no one has to go through what they did. before you hear from dave and charlie, i would like to introduce you to charlie's mom, who was -- [cheers] debbie was with david and charlie when they visit the cake shop, and she will tell you what it felt like as a mother to stand by and watch her son and the love of his life be humiliated sickly because of who they are. in america, no one should be turned away because of who they are or who they love. let's hear it for debbie munn. >> you know, nobody wants to go to court with their child in front of one judge. but today it was different being in front of the justices because i know my son and his husband did nothing wrong. basically went into a business and thought they had a right to order a wedding cake. base theirthat customer base on who you are and who you love have hurt a lot of people. that day at the cake shop, when i was with my son, i sat there after the baker told us that he same-sex sell them a commitment cake. -- cake. i do not know what to do. we eventually got up, walked out to the car, and as i am sitting in the car, i see that my son, who is a grown man, is starting to shake. and as i put my arms around him, i realized he is broke down. as a parent, you want to protect your children. you do not want people to be judging who they are when they do not know who they are. a complete stranger decided in a public accommodation to turn him away and to turn away the love of his life. so muchtime i have seen more acceptance among the people, notr loving based on their orientation, but simply loving people because there is no orientation. i mean, you know what i mean? they love you for who you are. and today i want to give a heartfelt thanks to the aclu, because we would not be here without their support, and i will be honest, going through the grueling job that they go through almost on a daily basis, they would not be here if it was not for the support of you all. the countless hours of volunteers have given. so from us to you, i want to say thank you, and it is about open to all. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, debbie. and you will now hear directly from david and charlie. charlie? ers and applause] make sure yout to guys can hear me very loudly. thank you. ha-ha. let's start. man, you guys look good today. what a group of beautiful people to come out supporting us, and david and i are truly humbled by each and every one of you coming out today. thank you, thank you, thank you, and let's give a round of -- today.or [cheers] this entire time dave and i have been asking to be treated equally in public, and that is our platform. over the past 5 1/2 years, we have heard stories from countless people from basically birth to death and everywhere in between. discrimination is happening, and somehow dave and i were able to get this platform. today we stand up for ourselves, but we stand up for you, too, and we can tell you guys are standing up for us, and we are all in this together, right? let's see. just a little bit about me and dave. i feel like we are two regular guys that were just wrong, and we decided to stand up for ourselves. you know, i feel like dave and i do not have an agenda. we do have hopes and dreams. we want our friends and families to be able to live meaningful lives. we want to grow old together. we really like ragdoll kittie s. the most important we want everybody to be treated equally, you know? we all deserve fair and equal treatment. and that is why we are here today. i'm going to do a little chance, and hopefully we will be louder than the other side, because in the end, i say love always wins. i say love, you say wins. love. >> wins. >> love. >> wins. >> thank you. dave: hi. i'm dave mullins. thank you. this is not about the cake. this has never been about the cake. and this is not about weddings. it has never been about weddings. no. this is about freedom, freedom for lgbt people to live full lives in public and not in constant fear that they will be tonight basic services, fired from their jobs, or lose their homes because of who they are. when people live in a world when they can legally be turned away, they feel rejected, unsafe, they feel they do not belong in our society simply for being born different. and unless society chooses to embrace their rights, some of them will simply choose to remain hidden. cut off from the world and who they really are. to this day, charlie and my's experience in masterpiece cake shop is a persistent memory, the memory of the mortification and not go away.oes it is always there the next time we walk into a business, wondering whether the same thing will happen, and maybe we should just pretend we are not a and are not married just to be safe. in the next time someone harasses you on the street, a little bit of you wonders maybe you deserve it. but you do not. we do not. nobody does. and that is why we are here today, to stand up and show everyone and ourselves that our freedom is worth fighting for. [cheers and applause] dave: that only when we stand up and say, no, i will not be pushed into the shadows, can we fully claimed the promise of equality that is our promised birthright as a records. i love charlie more than i could ever put into words, and i cannot stand by and do nothing while someone tries to make our love into something shameful and wrong. it into something worthy of contempt. andlove is just as real true as anyone else's, and we deserve the right to live full lives in public without having that love turned into a weap on, a weapon used to deny us the basics of freedom. what happened to us was wrong, and we do not want another couple to go to the pain and humiliation the experience. nobody deserves that. we did not, and neither do any of you. >> live coverage continues from outside the supreme court online. go to www.c-span.org, and you will see the icon to click on our live coverage. the supreme court oral argument having today. we have been getting protesters and speakers outside all morning. the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. eternal god we give you thanks for giving us another day. once again we come to ask wisdom, patience, peace and understanding for the members of this people's house. give them the generosity of heart and the courage of true leadership to work toward a common solution to the many issues facing our nation. as true states men and women, may they find the fortitude to make judgments to benefit all americans in their time of need. may all that is done this day be for yo

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