Given the narrow criteria and tight framing of the issue before them, the U.S. Supreme Court voted overwhelmingly Monday to do the right thing — but settled no issues.

The court ruled 7-2 that Jack Phillips, a baker from Colorado, did not have to make a cake for a gay couple’s wedding because it went against his strong religious beliefs.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the majority opinion, harshly criticized the Colorado Human Rights Commission. Kennedy’s criticism centered on the commission’s anti-discrimination regulations which, he wrote, were composed in a way that showed hostility to Phillips.

Justice Anthony’s implication is clear: Sexual preferences are no longer to be kept in the closet these days, according to the regulatory conduct of the Colorado Human Rights Commission, but one’s religious convictions should stay in the closet.

“The commission’s hostility was inconsistent with the First Amendment’s guarantee that our laws be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion,” Kennedy wrote, implying that the commission had crossed a fine line.

Let’s disclose here that Kennedy has a reputation for being a “swing vote,” meaning he is as apt to side with conservative justices as with liberals. In fact, he wrote the 2015 majority opinion making gay marriage legal.

Unfortunately for the rest of the country, Monday’s narrowly defined ruling that affects only the single case involving Colorado and its commission. The Court did not rule on the circumstances under which other individuals or businesses could seek exemptions from anti-discrimination laws based on their religious views. The decision also did not address important claims raised in the case including whether baking a cake is a kind of expressive act protected by the First Amendment.

“The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market,” Kennedy wrote in the opinion. “Our society has come to the recognition that gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth.”

And, as Monday’s ruling affirms, let us not lose sight of the fact that persons of religious convictions cannot be treated that way, either — as Jack Phillips was mistreated when the state Human Rights Commission in Colorado recently lost its way.