The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Christian website designer has a free-speech right to create wedding pages only for opposite-sex couples in a consequential case that pitted LGBTQ rights against First Amendment protections.
Voting 6-3 along ideological lines, the court said anti-discrimination laws, including the Colorado measure at issue in the case, must make allowances for businesses that engage in expressive activities. The majority said the First Amendment protected the website designer's right to refuse to make certain kinds of websites.
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"Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority. "The First Amendment protects an individual's right to speak his mind regardless of whether the government considers his speech sensible and well intentioned or deeply 'misguided.'"
The ruling adds to a string of victories for religious groups and individuals at the nation's highest court. It deals a blow to
Colorado is one of about two dozen states that bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by businesses that serve the general public.
The ruling is a win for Lorie Smith, a Denver-area web designer who says she wants to start creating wedding pages without having to provide services for same-sex ceremonies. Smith, represented by the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, sued the state without waiting to see whether any potential customers might file a civil-rights complaint against her.
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Smith's lawyers said the Colorado law would force her to either abandon her business plans or convey messages that violate her faith.
Civil-rights groups said Smith was seeking a constitutional right to discriminate — which the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected. They said before the ruling that a victory for Smith might undercut protections for racial minorities and women as well as LGBTQ people. Colorado argued that the state's public accommodation law, which bars businesses from withholding products and services from
But the majority said Smith's website designs amounted to a protected "expression" that the government cannot curtail.
Writing for the three liberal justices in their dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said LGBTQ people want to "inhabit public spaces on the same terms and conditions as everyone else." She added, "Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people."
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The Biden administration backed the state in the case.
Smith's challenge was a follow-up to a clash involving a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding. The Supreme Court in 2018 sided with the baker on narrow grounds while sidestepping larger questions about whether and when business owners can turn away customers.
