Chapel Hill leadership has joined an amicus brief filed in a case before the United States Supreme Court over LGBTQ discrimination by a Colorado bake shop.

Mayor Pam Hemminger, after receiving support from the Town Council, signed on with 150 mayors from across the country as part of the Mayors Against LGBT Discrimination.

Masterpiece Cakeshop is a case pending before the nation’s high court considering “the constitutionality of enforcing anti-discrimination laws when business owners have asserted a religious justification for refusing to provide services to LGBTQ people in violation of those laws,” according to a release from the town.

The owners of the bakery at the center of this case contend they should be exempt from enforcement of the Colorado’s non-discrimination law based on religion or free speech grounds rooted in their religious opposition to same-sex marriage.

Chapel Hill has signed on supporting the Colorado Civil Rights commission arguing that “public interest is better served when discrimination against protected classes is prevented.”

Supreme Court justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in this case on December 5.

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