The United States Supreme Court on Monday declared its intention to give reason to a creator of “sites” who refuses to design some for same-sex marriages, in the name of her freedom of speech and her Christian faith.
“For the first time in its history,” this court will be able to authorize a company “to refuse to serve a customer based on racial, gender or religious criteria,” Judge Sonia Sotomayor noted with emotion this Monday.
Together with two progressive colleagues, the magistrate warned during the hearing about the possible decision, which could open the door to all kinds of discrimination.
The six conservative justices of the US Supreme Court seem more receptive to the arguments of Lorie Smith, head of the Colorado state company “303 creative”.
“I want to create unique sites to celebrate the beauty of marriage between a man and a woman. But Colorado is trying to force me (…) to promote ideas that run counter to my beliefs,” said Lorie Smith, quoted by the AFP agency.
Since 2008, this western US state has banned merchants from discriminating against their customers on the basis of their sexual orientation, under penalty of a fine.
This businesswoman has not been charged or prosecuted by the authorities by any homosexual couple, but has filed a pre-emptive report against the law. After losing in an appeals court, he appealed to the highest court in the US.
This is not the first time the Supreme Court, which upheld the right to same-sex marriage in 2015, has been called upon to arbitrate between sexual minorities and Christian traffickers.
In 2018, this instance matched a pastry chef who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. At the time, however, it based its decision on additional reasons, without disclosing any major principles.
Since then, Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021) has consolidated his conservative majority and the Supreme Court may issue a ruling with broader scope by June 30.
The White House has already called for restraint, with US presidency spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre saying at a news conference that “there is no reason to change the current balance”.
The administration led by Democrat Joe Biden believes all Americans have “the right to equal access to society, including products and services” for sale in the country, he added.
At the hearing, Lorie Smith’s attorney insisted that this was not homophobic discrimination, but rather the defense of an “artist’s” freedom of expression.
The law does not cover the content of the products, but requires them to be offered to all customers, Colorado attorney Eric Olson countered.
For this attorney, Lorie Smith is allowed to embellish her “sites” with biblical messages about marriage “between a man and a woman,” but she can’t refuse to sell them to gay couples.
But for conservative magistrate Amy Coney Barrett, this businesswoman also refuses to create matrimonial sites for heterosexuals who are divorced or have committed adultery, meaning “it’s the message, not the couple’s sexual orientation, that counts.”
Judge Samuel Alito defended “honorable people who oppose same-sex marriage” and refused to compare them to “those who historically opposed marriage between black and white Americans.”
“Historically, opposition to interracial marriage and integration has often been justified on religious grounds,” said African-American judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor also wondered what the limit is, if someone thinks that people with disabilities should not marry.
“Hairdressers, gardeners, plumbers … can’t invoke the First Amendment to deny same-sex marriages, but it’s different for artists,” conservative conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh replied.
Source: DN
