It was, perhaps, the most talked-about wedding cake in the history of marriage ceremonies.

In 2012, Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., refused to make a custom wedding cake for the marriage of a same-sex couple. The bakery owner objected, saying that the ceremony conflicted with his religious beliefs.

Although the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found the bakery had discriminated against the couple, the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that decision in 2018. The ruling said the Commission failed to maintain religious neutrality, sidestepping questions about anti-discrimination laws and human rights.

“The case arose when two populations wanted vastly different outcomes,’’ said professor Eric D. Yordy of the W.A. Franke College of Business at Northern Arizona University. “The LGBTQ community was unhappy that the bakery told the couple to find a cake somewhere else. And others felt that the bakery shouldn’t be forced to do something that conflicted with the owner’s religion.’’

Social Media Has Put Religious Conflict in the Spotlight

Yordy will be the guest presenter at the School of Business’ Equity Now Speaker Series at 6 p.m. April 16. His presentation, which will be virtual, is open to students, faculty, alumni and friends of the university. To register for the program, please visit the Equity Now Website

Despite being a nation that embraces religious freedom, the parameters are still evolving.

“We are a country founded on religious freedom, but this issue is what are the boundaries of religious freedom and how do they impact business?,’’ he said.

The cake dispute is just one of many.

Hobby Lobby, the 1,000-store arts and crafts retailer, was founded on evangelical Protestant beliefs. It found itself in the crosshairs of law and religion when it denied employees access to contraceptives and the morning-after pill. The company argued that the First Amendment to the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act serve to protect its religious beliefs. The Supreme Court ruled in the company’s favor.

What might have once been an internal conflict to resolve, today frequently leads to publicity and public outcry.

“With the way the world is now and so much that has happened in the last 20 years with social media, company decisionmakers need to be much more careful about what they’re doing,’’ Yordy said. “They can be crucified by social media. Now more than ever, consequences are bigger. Twenty years ago, most people wouldn’t have known about these disagreements.’’

Professor Designed Ethical Model

Yordy is a professor of business covering business law and ethics at Northern Arizona University and he has served in a variety of executive roles there, including as associate dean. He is also the founding director of the college’s Institute for Public and Professional Ethics in Leadership, an interdisciplinary initiative to increase ethics work both on campus and in the community.
Yordy and a colleague devised the ethics COVER model, a framework for ethical decision-making that helps users identify and analyze decisions with ethical ramifications by incorporating managerial decision-making and philosophical approaches. It address values, outcomes, and legal requirements.

He has authored or co-authored numerous case studies using the COVER model and other decision-making tools on topics as far ranging as the ethics of reverse mortgages, conflicts of interest, censorship in mobile application development, and the marketing of sugary cereal to children.

“We were seeing a lot of arguments that asked, ‘If everyone else is doing it, is it a bad decision?’ he said. “Well, yes, if you polluted something, even ‘just a little bit,’ it is still unethically sound. One of the questions we pose is: ‘If people heard about what you’re doing, would it influence who they think you are?’ ’’

The Equity Now Speaker Series is produced by the UConn School of Business in coordination with the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, Virginia tech, Indiana University and Temple University. This is the final installment of five programs during the 2024-25 academic year.