The Supreme Court of the United States, with a conservative majority, ruled this Friday in favor of a Christian graphic designer who refuses to create web pages for weddings of homosexual couples.
Lorie Smith, an evangelical Christian, sued the state of Colorado in 2016 seeking an exception to the state’s civil rights law to only offer services to heterosexual couples. The high court agreed with him with the support of the six conservative Supreme Court judges and the three progressive magistrates voted against.
Conservative judge Neil Gorsuch, author of the ruling, wrote that Smith’s refusal is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which shields freedom of expression and religion. “Colorado is forcing a person to align with his views by challenging his conscience on a matter of great importance,” says the decision of the highest court in the country.
In a dissenting opinion, progressive Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that for the first time in history the Supreme Court is giving a company the constitutional right to “refuse to provide services to members of a social minority.”
Smith’s company, 303 Creative, is not yet active, so the case does not have an affected partner. But during a hearing before the Supreme Court last December, Smith’s defense argued that the woman believes that same-sex marriage should not exist. The Supreme Court already narrowly supported a Colorado pastry chef in 2018 who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
This is the latest in a series of rulings expanding religious rights in the country, after last year the court, with a conservative majority, sided with a Christian coach who was suspended from his job at a high school for refusing to stop praying with your players after games. This same Thursday, the court agreed with a Christian mailman who sued the Postal Service for rejecting his request not to work on Sunday.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, warned this Friday that the Supreme Court has opened the door to discrimination against the LGTBI community with the ruling in which he agrees with a Christian designer who refuses to make web pages for weddings homosexuals.
“I am deeply concerned that the decision leads to greater discrimination against LGTBI Americans,” the president stressed in a statement published after the ruling was made public. Biden also opined that the announcement of the highest judicial body in the country “weakens” all those laws that protect Americans from discrimination, including that based on gender, color or religion.
The Democratic leader criticized that the ruling “undermines” the idea that no one should be discriminated against because of “who they love”, in addition to opining that it is especially “painful” that the decision has been made known while LGTBI Pride Month is being celebrated.
Given all this, the Democratic leader promised that his Administration will coordinate with the states of the country “to fight against attempts to reverse the protections of civil rights that could follow this ruling.” He also called for Congress to approve a proposed Equality Law to protect the rights of the LGBTI community.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the largest NGOs in the country, criticized the Supreme Court for ruling that companies “have the right to discriminate”, a decision that represents a “direct attack” on the rights of citizens .
According to the criteria of The Trust Project