On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that businesses have the right to refuse to serve same-sex couples if the owners believe doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The ruling comes courtesy of a case with Lorie Smith, a Colorado web designer who wanted to sell her wedding websites but not to same-sex couples.
According to the civil rights law in Colorado, businesses that serve the general public ban owners from turning down customers because of their sexual orientation. Smith claimed that obeying that law would force her to promote views that go against her religion.
In a December interview, Smith remarked: “The artwork that I create is speech. It matters not to me how an individual identifies. What’s important to me is what message is I’m being asked to create and design for. And those messages must be consistent with my convictions.”
The conservative-majority Supreme Court agreed with Smith and ruled 6-3 in her favor. The high court says the designer has a First Amendment right to refuse to design custom wedding websites for same-sex couples. “The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.
“Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment.” Gorsuch also wrote that “All of us will encounter ideas we consider ‘unattractive,’” and that “tolerance, not coercion, is our Nation’s answer.” President Biden was disturbed by the ruling and urged Congress to pass the Equality Act.
“While the Court’s decision only addresses expressive original designs, I’m deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans,” the statement from Biden read. “More broadly, today’s decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations – including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.”