HomeWorldThe US Supreme Court could allow some companies to exclude gay customers

The US Supreme Court could allow some companies to exclude gay customers

Can American merchants refuse to serve gay customers in the name of their religious beliefs? The Supreme Court, firmly rooted in conservatism, opened this ultrasensitive debate on Monday.

The US Supreme Court appeared to lean Monday in favor of a website creator who refuses to design one for gay marriages in the name of her freedom of expression and her Christian faith.

“For the first time in its history,” the Court could authorize a company “to refuse to serve a customer based on racial, gender, or religious criteria,” Judge Sonia Sotomayor said with emotion.

Complaint against the law as a preventive measure

Along with her two progressive colleagues, the magistrate warned against such a ruling during the hearing, which, according to them, could open the door to discrimination of all kinds.

But the Court’s six conservative justices were more receptive to the arguments of Lorie Smith, the head of the Colorado-based company “303 creative.”

“I want to create unique places to celebrate the beauty of marriage between a man and a woman,” he said from the courthouse. But “Colorado is trying to force me to (…) promote ideas contrary to my faith.” This state in the western United States has prohibited merchants from discriminating against their customers based on their sexual orientation since 2008, under penalty of a fine.

Lorie Smith was not solicited by a gay couple, nor was she pursued by the authorities, but she filed a complaint against the law as a preventive measure. After losing in an appeals court, she turned to the Supreme Court.

Majority Conservatives

This is not the first time that the high court, which recognized the right to same-sex marriage in 2015, has been called upon to arbitrate between sexual minorities and Christian merchants.

In 2018, he agreed with a pastry chef who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. But he had based his decision on additional reasons without promulgating major principles. Since then, Donald Trump has consolidated his conservative majority and the Court could deliver a more far-reaching ruling on June 30.

The White House asked for restraint. “There is no reason to change the current balance,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference.

The Democratic administration believes that all Americans “have the right to equal access to society, including products and services” for sale in the country, it added.

Author: GA with AFP
Source: BFM TV

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