DISCRIMINATE AS YOU WISH

Supreme Court: Web Designer Can Turn Down LGBTQ Customers

Lorie Smith argued that anti-discrimination laws can’t compel her to make a wedding website for a gay couple.

The conservative-leaning Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 in favor of a Colorado web designer who argued she should be able to refuse to do business with LGBTQ customers. In the case, 303 Creative v. Elenis, Lorie Smith argued that Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws can’t compel her to make a wedding website for a gay couple. The court agreed with her on Friday, ruling that anti-discrimination laws can’t compel a person or business to provide a service or send a message with which they disagree under the First Amendment. “I think this is a license to discriminate of the highest order,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, said on MSNBC as soon as the decision was handed down. As part of her case, Smith cited a man named Stewart who was one half of a gay couple who wanted a wedding website made. However, The New Republic tracked down Stewart this week, who said he was straight, married, and never made such a request. “[S]omebody’s using false information in a Supreme Court filing document,” he said.