The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on Monday said a Christian web designer who lives in Colorado must create websites that she says violate her religious beliefs. In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court said 303 Creative founder Lorie Smith must design graphics and websites that "celebrate same-sex marriages" because Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act "permissibly compels" her to do so if she also is going to create websites that celebrate heterosexual marriages.
"The government should never force creative professionals to
promote a message or cause with which they disagree. That is
quintessential free speech and artistic freedom," said
John Bursch, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom who is
representing Smith in her lawsuit against the Colorado law.
Colorado's
Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits any business that offers public
services from denying an individual or group goods or services on the
basis of sexual orientation or any other of several protected classes of
identity covered by the law. It is the same law used by the Colorado
Civil Rights Division to fine Masterpiece Cake Shop owner Jack Phillips, who has refused to bake cakes celebrating same-sex marriage or a transgender person's sex-reassignment surgery............To Read More....
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