A Colorado website designer who said her religious beliefs prevented her from working with same-sex couples has no right to discriminate, a federal appeals court ruled in July.

Lorie Smith, owner of a firm called 303 Creative, argued that a Colorado law banning discrimination against LGBTQ residents violated her right to religious freedom. She was represented in court by Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nationalist legal group.

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Smith in a 2-1 decision.  The court held that Colorado has a legitimate interest in protecting the “dignity interests” of people who have been subjected to discrimination.

The court held that it must “consider the grave harms caused when public accommodations discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. Combatting such discrimination is, like individual autonomy, ‘essential’ to our democratic ideals.”

Americans United filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case on the side of Colorado officials. (303 Creative v. Elenis)

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


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