Written by JESSICA GRESKO
The Supreme Court is hearing the case Monday of a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that’s the latest clash of religion and gay rights to land at the highest court.
The designer and her supporters say that ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their faith. Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black customers, Jewish or Muslim people, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants, among others.
The case comes at a time when the court is dominated 6-3 by conservatives and following a series of cases in which the justices have sided with religious plaintiffs. It also comes as, across the street from the court, lawmakers in Congress are finalizing a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriage.
The bill, which also protects interracial marriage, steadily gained momentum following the high court’s decision earlier this year to end constitutional protections for abortion. That decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case prompted questions about whether the court — now that it is more conservative — might also overturn its 2015 decision declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly said that decision should also be reconsidered.
The case being argued before the high court Monday involves Lorie Smith, a graphic artist and website designer in Colorado who wants to begin offering wedding websites. Smith says her Christian faith prevents her from creating websites celebrating same-sex marriages. But that could get her in trouble with state law. Colorado, like most other states, has what’s called a public accommodation law that says if Smith offers wedding websites to the public, she must provide them to all customers. Businesses that violate the law can be fined, among other things.
Five years ago, the Supreme Court heard a different challenge involving Colorado’s law and a baker, Jack Phillips, who objected to designing a wedding cake for a gay couple. That case ended with a limited decision, however, and set up a return of the issue to the high court. Phillips’ lawyer, Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom, is now representing Smith.
Like Phillips, Smith says her objection is not to working with gay people. She says she’d work with a gay client who needed help with graphics for an animal rescue shelter, for example, or to promote an organization serving children with disabilities. But she objects to creating messages supporting same-sex marriage, she says, just as she won’t take jobs that would require her to create content promoting atheism or gambling or supporting abortion.
Smith says Colorado’s law violates her free speech rights. Her opponents, including the Biden administration and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, disagree.
Twenty mostly liberal states, including California and New York, are supporting Colorado while another 20 mostly Republican states, including Arizona, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee, are supporting Smith.
The case is 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, 21-476.
Photo via AP Photo/Patrick Semansky.
Related Stories
‹

The Supreme Court Rules for a Designer Who Doesn’t Want To Make Wedding Websites for Gay CouplesWritten by JESSICA GRESKO In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples. The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender […]

Supreme Court Arguments Begin in Landmark Case Seeking to Kick Trump off Ballot Over Capitol AttackWritten by MARK SHERMAN The Supreme Court has begun hearing former President Donald Trump’s appeal to remain on the 2024 ballot, the justices’ most consequential election case since Bush v. Gore in 2000. The court, meeting Thursday, is weighing arguments over whether Trump is disqualified from reclaiming the White House because of his efforts to undo his loss in the […]

Donald Trump Banned From Colorado Ballot in Historic Ruling by State’s Supreme CourtWritten by NICHOLAS RICCARDI A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination […]
![]()
How Senators ‘Defied Political Gravity’ on Same-Sex MarriageWritten by MARY CLARE JALONICK Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin was on the Senate floor, but her mind was on the other side of the Capitol. The House was voting that July afternoon on Democratic legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal right to an abortion. […]

Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Bill Wins Senate PassageWritten by MARY CLARE JALONICK The Senate passed bipartisan legislation Tuesday to protect same-sex marriages, an extraordinary sign of shifting national politics on the issue and a measure of relief for the hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples who have married since the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide. The bill, which […]
![]()
Anti-Transgender Legislation Resonates on Day of RemembranceWritten by HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Persistent efforts by North Carolina’s legislature to restrict transgender lives cast a shadow over Callum Bradford as he grew up in Chapel Hill, following him through his journey of self-discovery, coming out and obtaining the gender-affirming health care the 16-year-old credits as lifesaving. After Republicans swept most state-level elections this month, […]
![]()
Democrats Frustrated by Party’s Response to Abortion RulingWritten by NICHOLAS RICCARDI As Sen. Michael Bennet sought to encourage a small crowd of fellow Democrats not to give up the fight for abortion rights, Maryah Lauer stepped forward, bullhorn in hand, to exhort him to do more. “Do you support ending the filibuster and expanding the court?” the 28-year-old called out from a quartet of […]
![]()
To The Supremes: Circuit Court Upholds Gay Marriage BanThe same-sex marriage issue just got more complicated. What does this mean for North Carolinians?
![]()
"Liberty Rules...And So Does Love"Same-sex marriage could be legal in North Carolina as early as this week.

State Department Is Firing More Than 1,300 Employees Under Trump Administration PlanThe U.S. State Department is firing more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration
›
“goes against their religion”
That is false. They are not going against their religion. They are building a website or catering a meal, not forcing the person to have same-sex intercourse.