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Arizona artists win suit over same-sex wedding invitations
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Dec 14, 2019, 3:24:59 PM12/14/19
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https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/arizona-artists-win-suit-over-
same-sex-wedding-invitations-n1055291?icid=related
PHOENIX — The free speech rights of two Christian artists who make wedding
invitations were violated by an anti-discrimination ordinance in Phoenix
that makes it illegal to refuse service to same-sex couples for religious
reasons, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 4-3 decision reversed lower-court rulings favoring the city.
The state Supreme Court said its ruling is limited to only the creation of
custom wedding invitations by Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski and isn't a
blanket exemption from the ordinance for all their business operations.
The artists, who believe a marriage should be between only a man and
woman, had argued that the ordinance would violate their religious beliefs
by forcing them to custom-make products for same-sex marriage ceremonies.
The high court said the city can't force them to make same-sex wedding
invitations.
"Duka and Koski's beliefs about same-sex marriage may seem old-fashioned,
or even offensive to some," the court majority wrote. "But the guarantees
of free speech and freedom of religion are not only for those who are
deemed sufficiently enlightened, advanced, or progressive. They are for
everyone."
In the dissenting opinion, the court's minority said the case doesn't
concern the content of custom wedding products but instead pertains to the
identity of customers.
"Today's decision is also deeply troubling because its reasoning cannot be
limited to discrimination related to same-sex marriage or based on the
beliefs of any one religion, but instead extends more broadly to other
claims of a 'right' by businesses to deny services to disfavored
customers," the opinion states.
The majority ruling said the city and dissenting justices claimed that if
the court were to dare to let the artists express their beliefs, "we, in
essence, run the risk of resurrecting the Jim Crow laws of the Old South."
Lawyers for the city are examining potential grounds for an appeal.
Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, emphasized that the ordinance remains in
effect.
"I want to be clear: The city of Phoenix does not and will not tolerate
hate in any form," Gallego said. "That doesn't change with today's ruling,
and we will not stop with our fight."
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker who refused to
make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, finding thst state's civil
rights commission showed anti-religious bias when it ruled against the
baker for refusing to make the cake.
The Supreme Court decision, however, didn't address the larger issue of
whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to
gay and lesbian people.
An Arizona state law that bars discrimination by businesses doesn't
include sexual orientation as a protected class. Phoenix, Tempe, Flagstaff
and Tucson have passed ordinances banning businesses from discriminating
on that basis.
So far, Phoenix hasn't taken any enforcement actions stemming from the
ban.
A lawyer representing the Arizona artists portrayed the state high court
ruling as a sweeping victory, even though the justices limited their
ruling to custom wedding invitations.
"Regardless of one's view on marriage, this is a win for all citizens of
Arizona, because a government that can crush Joanna and Breanna can crush
any one of us" said Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney for Alliance Defending
Freedom, a conservative advocacy organization that brought the case.
Scruggs acknowledged the ruling doesn't automatically protect other
business owners, who would need to seek their own court order to avoid
running afoul of the nondiscrimination ordinances in Phoenix or other
Arizona cities.
Jenny Pizer, law and policy director for the LGBTQ-rights group Lambda
Legal, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the city's
position, said that the ruling was troubling.
"The court misguidedly has concluded that free speech protections allow
businesses to express anti-gay religious views by denying particular
custom-design services to customers because of who they are," Pizer said.
--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
same-sex-wedding-invitations-n1055291?icid=related
PHOENIX — The free speech rights of two Christian artists who make wedding
invitations were violated by an anti-discrimination ordinance in Phoenix
that makes it illegal to refuse service to same-sex couples for religious
reasons, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 4-3 decision reversed lower-court rulings favoring the city.
The state Supreme Court said its ruling is limited to only the creation of
custom wedding invitations by Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski and isn't a
blanket exemption from the ordinance for all their business operations.
The artists, who believe a marriage should be between only a man and
woman, had argued that the ordinance would violate their religious beliefs
by forcing them to custom-make products for same-sex marriage ceremonies.
The high court said the city can't force them to make same-sex wedding
invitations.
"Duka and Koski's beliefs about same-sex marriage may seem old-fashioned,
or even offensive to some," the court majority wrote. "But the guarantees
of free speech and freedom of religion are not only for those who are
deemed sufficiently enlightened, advanced, or progressive. They are for
everyone."
In the dissenting opinion, the court's minority said the case doesn't
concern the content of custom wedding products but instead pertains to the
identity of customers.
"Today's decision is also deeply troubling because its reasoning cannot be
limited to discrimination related to same-sex marriage or based on the
beliefs of any one religion, but instead extends more broadly to other
claims of a 'right' by businesses to deny services to disfavored
customers," the opinion states.
The majority ruling said the city and dissenting justices claimed that if
the court were to dare to let the artists express their beliefs, "we, in
essence, run the risk of resurrecting the Jim Crow laws of the Old South."
Lawyers for the city are examining potential grounds for an appeal.
Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, emphasized that the ordinance remains in
effect.
"I want to be clear: The city of Phoenix does not and will not tolerate
hate in any form," Gallego said. "That doesn't change with today's ruling,
and we will not stop with our fight."
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker who refused to
make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, finding thst state's civil
rights commission showed anti-religious bias when it ruled against the
baker for refusing to make the cake.
The Supreme Court decision, however, didn't address the larger issue of
whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to
gay and lesbian people.
An Arizona state law that bars discrimination by businesses doesn't
include sexual orientation as a protected class. Phoenix, Tempe, Flagstaff
and Tucson have passed ordinances banning businesses from discriminating
on that basis.
So far, Phoenix hasn't taken any enforcement actions stemming from the
ban.
A lawyer representing the Arizona artists portrayed the state high court
ruling as a sweeping victory, even though the justices limited their
ruling to custom wedding invitations.
"Regardless of one's view on marriage, this is a win for all citizens of
Arizona, because a government that can crush Joanna and Breanna can crush
any one of us" said Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney for Alliance Defending
Freedom, a conservative advocacy organization that brought the case.
Scruggs acknowledged the ruling doesn't automatically protect other
business owners, who would need to seek their own court order to avoid
running afoul of the nondiscrimination ordinances in Phoenix or other
Arizona cities.
Jenny Pizer, law and policy director for the LGBTQ-rights group Lambda
Legal, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the city's
position, said that the ruling was troubling.
"The court misguidedly has concluded that free speech protections allow
businesses to express anti-gay religious views by denying particular
custom-design services to customers because of who they are," Pizer said.
--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
The Obama-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
approved Uranium One in fall 2010. With a little luck, we'll see
compulsive liar Hillary Clinton in jail before she dies.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
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