In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with an evangelical Christian web designer, Lorie Smith, permitting her to refuse service for same-sex weddings. The decision once again showcases the court’s broad interpretation of religious interests while potentially jeopardizing protections for the LGBT community. Smith, owner of Denver-based web design business 303 Creative, filed a lawsuit against Colorado’s civil rights commission in 2016, expressing concerns of facing punishment under the state law prohibiting businesses from denying goods or services based on sexual orientation, among other protected characteristics.
The court’s ruling, grounded in the First Amendment’s protections for free speech, highlights the assertion that Colorado cannot compel Smith to create speech she opposes. While Smith’s case was presented as a free speech claim, it shares similarities with recent conflicts between religiously motivated activities and civil rights laws. Elizabeth Platt, director of the Law, Rights and Religion Project at Columbia Law School, notes the significant expansion of rights for conservative religious communities, which has negatively impacted equality rights, particularly for the LGBTQ community.
Colorado is among 22 U.S. states that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations. Smith, who holds Christian beliefs opposing same-sex marriage, was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious rights group. Kristen Waggoner, president of the Alliance Defending Freedom, emphasized the court’s ruling as an affirmation that the state cannot eliminate ideas it dislikes from the public sphere, including the belief in marriage as the union of a husband and wife.
Clashes Between Religious Freedom and LGBT Protections
The ruling in Smith’s case is reminiscent of the court’s previous encounter with the clash between religiously motivated activities and civil rights laws. In the 2018 case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the court, with a 7-2 decision, determined that the commission had demonstrated impermissible hostility toward religion when it found that a Colorado baker violated anti-discrimination laws by refusing to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. While the ruling did not provide a definitive stance on religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws, it underscored the disparity in how the court perceives protections for the LGBT community compared to conservative Christian interests.
Another notable case in 2021, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, witnessed the court favoring religious rights over LGBT rights. With a unanimous 9-0 ruling, the court sided with a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that sued after Philadelphia declined to place foster children with the organization due to its prohibition of same-sex couples as foster parents. These decisions, coupled with the shift in the court’s composition following the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the appointment of conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, have raised concerns about the court’s approach to balancing the rights of conservative Christian causes and the dignity interests of marginalized groups, including LGBT individuals.
Rachel Laser, president of the secular group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, criticizes the court’s trend of advancing the agenda of religious extremists, asserting that it imposes their narrow beliefs on society. While the ruling brings satisfaction to Smith, who defends her right to free speech, it prompts concerns among advocates for LGBT protections regarding the court’s trajectory and its potential impact on previous landmark decisions like Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.
