The US Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to create wedding websites can refuse to cater to same-sex couples.
The conservative majority court ruled – by six votes to three – in favor of designer Lorie Smith, outside of a Colorado state law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith argued that the law violates her free speech rights.
Opponents of Smith have warned that a victory would allow a number of businesses to discriminate by refusing to serve black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants.
But Smith and his supporters have argued that a ruling against him would force artists, from painters and photographers to writers and musicians, to make work that goes against their beliefs.
“The First Amendment views America as a rich and complex place where all people are free to think and speak as they choose, not as the government requires,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote to the court’s six conservative justices.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by other liberals on the court. “Today [sexta-feira]the Supreme Court, for the first time in its history, grants a company open to the public the constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class,” Sotomayor wrote.
The ruling is a victory for religious rights and adds to a series of cases in recent years in which magistrates have sided with religious plaintiffs.
Last year, for example, the court ruled along ideological lines in favor of a sports coach who prayed on the field of his public school after games.
The ruling is also a backlash on gay rights for the court.
For two decades, the Supreme Court expanded the rights of LGBTQ+ (stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people, granting primarily same-sex couples the right to marry in 2015 and announcing, five years later, a historic civil law. human rights policy that also protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from employment discrimination. This civil rights law decision was also written by Gorsuch.
However, even expanding on gay rights, the court was careful to say that those with different religious views must also be respected.
The belief that marriage can only be between one man and one woman is an idea that “has been held, and continues to be held, in good faith by reasonable and sincere persons here and throughout the world,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote. . in the court’s decision on same-sex marriage.
The court returned to that idea five years ago, when faced with the case of a Christian baker who objected to designing a cake for a same-sex wedding.
The court issued a limited decision in favor of the baker, Jack Phillips, declaring that there was impermissible hostility toward his religious views in the consideration of his case.
Smith, who owns a design company in Colorado called 303 Creative, doesn’t currently design wedding websites. She said she wants to, but her Christian faith would prevent her from creating websites celebrating same-sex marriages. And that’s where she runs afoul of state law.
Colorado, like most other states, has a law that prohibits publicly traded companies from discriminating against customers.
The state of Colorado says that under the so-called Public Accommodations Act, if Smith offers marriage sites to the public, he must provide them to all customers, regardless of sexual orientation.
Companies that violate the law can be fined, among other penalties. Smith argued that the application of that law violates his First Amendment rights, and the state disagreed.
Source: TSF
