Commenting on Supreme Court decisions is probably above the pay grade of a lowly art critic. Still, there’s an important point to be made about Monday’s much-debated decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The key conflict in the case of the Christian baker who refused to make a cake to celebrate the wedding of Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins may be gay rights vs. religious freedom—but at its heart the Masterpiece mess is also about the new and unexpected ways that art and politics are intersecting today.
What is important to grasp is this: The issue was not whether businesses, in general, may deny service to same-sex couples because of religious conviction. The issue was whether artists, specifically, may deny service to same-sex couples because of religious conviction. Read more