Supreme Court rules for web designer who refused to work on same-sex weddings
The court issued a major ruling on whether businesses can refuse to sell certain products and services if they disagree with the message the customer wishes to convey
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of an evangelical Christian web designer from Colorado who refuses to work on same-sex weddings.
The justices, divided 6-3, said that Lorie Smith, as a creative professional, has a free speech right under the Constitution’s First Amendment to refuse to endorse messages she disagrees with. As a result, she cannot be punished under Colorado’s antidiscrimination law for refusing to design websites for gay couples, the court said.
The ruling could allow other similar business owners to evade punishment under laws in 29 states that protect LGBTQ rights in public accommodations in some form. The remaining 21 states do not have laws explicitly protecting LGBTQ rights in public accommodations, although some local municipalities do.
Suprema Corte dos EUA permite que empresa recuse atendimento a casais do mesmo sexo
Sotomayor: ‘Today is a sad day … in the lives of LGBT people’
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that it’s a “sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people.”
“The Supreme Court of the United States declares that a particular kind of business, though open to the public, has a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. The Court does so for the first time in its history,” she wrote.
Sotomayor continued, “By issuing this new license to discriminate in a case brought by a company that seeks to deny same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of its services, the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status. In this way, the decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service. The opinion of the Court is, quite literally, a notice that reads: ‘Some services may be denied to same-sex couples.’”
