WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday began hearing arguments in a major case pitting LGBT rights against a claim that the constitutional right to free speech exempts artists from anti-discrimination laws in a dispute between an evangelical Christian web designer who refuses to offer his services for same-sex marriages.
The justices were hearing an appeal by Denver-area business owner Lorie Smith seeking an exemption from a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors. Lower courts, including the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled in favor of Colorado in 2021.
Smith, who runs a web design business called 303 Creative, claims the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act violates the First Amendment right of artists, including web designers, to free speech , forcing them to express messages through their work that they oppose. .
The case follows the Supreme Court’s narrow 2018 ruling in favor of Jack Phillips, a Denver-area Christian baker who refused on religious grounds to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. In this case, the court stopped short of establishing a free speech exemption from anti-discrimination laws.
Like Phillips, Smith is represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious rights group. The Supreme Court did not address any aspect of its challenge to the Colorado law based on religious rights also protected by the First Amendment, focusing on free speech.
Colorado, civil rights groups and numerous legal scholars have said that supporting Smith’s free speech arguments could lead to widespread discrimination against LGBT people and others.
“It would encompass not only a company’s objections to serving certain customers motivated by sincerely held religious beliefs, but also objections motivated by ignorance, caprice, bigotry, caprice and more, including pure expressions of racial hatred, sexist or anti-religious”. the state wrote in a legal brief to the Supreme Court.
There are public accommodation laws in many states, which prohibit discrimination in areas such as housing, hotels, retail businesses, restaurants, and educational institutions.
Colorado first enacted one in 1885. Its current law prohibits publicly traded businesses from denying goods or services to people based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and certain other characteristics, and from displaying a notice in this meaning
The Supreme Court, with its conservative 6-3 majority, has become increasingly supportive of religious rights and related free-speech claims in recent years, although it has supported LGBT rights in other cases. The court legalized gay marriage nationwide in a landmark 2015 decision and in 2020 expanded protections for LGBT workers under federal law.
Smith, 38, said he believes marriage should be limited to opposite-sex couples, a view shared by many conservative Christians. She preemptively sued the Colorado civil rights commission and other state officials in 2016 because she feared she would be punished for refusing to serve gay weddings.
Similar legal battles have been waged in other states with other small businesses, including a wedding photographer and calligrapher owners.
A decision on Smith’s case is expected by the end of June.
Reporting by Andrew Chung in Washington and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham
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Nate Raymond
Thomson Reuters
Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at nate.raymond@thomsonreuters.com.