The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in favor of a design business owner who said her Christian faith prevents her from creating websites celebrating same-sex marriages has “pushed civil rights to the wayside” and “ignores long-standing precedent and public norms,” Illinois leaders and advocates said Friday.
The court ruled for designer Lorie Smith, who owns a Colorado design business called 303 Creative, which does not currently create wedding websites. She has said that she wants to but that her Christian faith would prevent her from creating websites celebrating same-sex marriages. Smith had argued that a state law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics violates her free speech rights.
Smith’s opponents warned that a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants. But Smith and her supporters had said that a ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their beliefs.
In a statement, Gov. J.B. Pritzker criticized the court’s decision, saying “it allows LGBTQ+ discrimination to pervade under the guise of free speech.”
“This decision weaponizes religious freedom as a boon for bigotry, and in doing so, puts the burden on the millions of Americans who have fought for their right to love and live as they are.”
Howard Brown Health, a nonprofit health organization that provides services to the LGBTQ+ community at clinics around the city, agreed that the ruling rolls back civil rights.
“This ruling opens the door to more discrimination, more polarization, and more people struggling to get the goods and services they need to live their lives. Our nondiscrimination laws exist to ensure that no one is turned away because of who they are,” the organization said in a statement.
“We call on all fair-minded business owners and people to condemn discrimination and support equality for all. LGBTQ+ people are family members, co-workers, business owners, classmates, and customers in every community.”
The ruling along ideological lines from the conservative-majority Supreme Court on Friday comes on the last day of Pride Month and at a time when several legislatures around the country are considering bills that target protections for LGBTQ+ people. The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S.
The nation’s high court “has pushed civil rights to the wayside in the name of a retrograde agenda,” Pritzker said. “Not yet ten years out from Obergefell [the landmark 2015 case that guaranteed the right to same-sex marriages], this court has turned its back on its mandate to protect the civil rights of all Americans.”
Equality Illinois called the decision “a radical and reckless ruling” that “ignores long-standing precedent and public norms to say that some businesses can turn some people away because of who they are.”
Equality Illinois said it plans to work with legal partners, public officials and LGBTQ+ advocates to determine how to defend the nondiscrimination protections in the Illinois Human Rights Act.
“We will work to ensure the ruling is not used to allow further discrimination because of a customer’s sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, national origin, sex, or other protected class,” the organization said.
The ACLU of Illinois said religion should never be used as a license to discriminate.
“We have a history in this country that says when a business opens up and hangs an open sign on its door, that the business has to serve everyone and it can’t be limited based on who someone loves and who they are,” said Ed Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy for the ACLU of Illinois. “This case was never really about a website because, in fact, they’ve never been asked to make a website. This decision is really about giving the imprimatur of our nation’s highest court to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.”
Contributing: AP
