US Supreme Court to rule on web designer with anti-gay marriage stance
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[June 30, 2023]
By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday is poised to rule on
whether a Christian web designer from Colorado has a right to refuse to
provide services for same-sex marriages based on constitutional free
speech protections - a case that could upend state anti-discrimination
laws.
During arguments in the case in December, the conservative justices
appeared ready to rule in favor of Denver-area business owner Lorie
Smith, who is seeking an exemption from a Colorado law that bars
discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors. Lower
courts ruled in Colorado's favor.
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. The liberal justices during
the argument said a decision favoring Smith could empower certain
businesses to discriminate.
The dispute, one of two major rulings the justices are expected to issue
on the final day of decisions for their term that began in October,
focuses on protections for freedom of speech under the U.S.
Constitution's First Amendment.
It pitted the right of LGBT people to seek goods and services from
businesses without discrimination against the free speech rights, as
asserted by Smith, of artists - as she called herself - whose businesses
provide services to the public.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jun/30/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
Smith, who lives in the Denver suburb of Littleton, is an evangelical
Christian who has said she believes marriage is only between a man and a
woman. She preemptively sued Colorado's civil rights commission and
other state officials in 2016 because she said she feared being punished
for refusing to serve gay weddings under Colorado's public
accommodations law.
Smith and her lawyers have said she is not discriminating against anyone
but objects to messages that contradict her Christian beliefs.
Colorado, civil rights groups and numerous legal scholars warned of a
ripple effect if Smith won, allowing discrimination based not only on a
business owners' religious beliefs, but potentially racist, sexist and
anti-religious views.
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![](../images/063023PIX/news_p22.jpg)
Web designer Lorie Smith, plaintiff in a
Supreme Court case who objects to same-sex marriage, poses for a
portrait at her office in Littleton, Colorado, U.S., November 28,
2022. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jun/30/images/ads/current/heartlandcollege_lda_060123.jpg)
Public accommodations laws exist in many states, banning
discrimination in areas such as housing, hotels, retail businesses,
restaurants and educational institutions. Colorado first enacted one
in 1885. Its current Anti-Discrimination Act bars businesses open to
the public from denying goods or services to people because of race,
gender, sexual orientation, religion and certain other
characteristics.
Colorado argued that its Anti-Discrimination Act regulates sales,
not speech, to ensure "equal access and equal dignity." Smith thus
is free to sell whatever she wants, including websites with biblical
passages stating an opposite-sex vision of marriage.
President Joe Biden's administration, supporting Colorado in the
case, argued that Smith's bid for an exemption went too far because
she sought a right to refuse to create a wedding website of any kind
for a same-sex couple, even a basic one simply stating logistical
details.
Smith said last year, "My faith has taught me to love everyone, and
that's why I work with everyone through my business. But that also
means I can't create every message."
Smith is represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending
Freedom, a conservative religious rights group.
The Supreme Court has supported religious rights and related free
speech claims in recent years in other cases. The justices backed
LGBT rights in cases such as the 2015 decision legalizing gay
marriage nationwide and the 2020 ruling that federal law barring
workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
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