The City of West Hollywood released an official statement in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis—a decision that comes on the last day of Pride Month that allows a private business to discriminate against members of a protected class that specifically targets the LGBTQ+ community.
“The US Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled today that there is a constitutional right to free speech that allows businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings. The City of West Hollywood expresses profound disappointment in this Supreme Court decision. Equal means equal. There should be no opportunity for our country’s highest court to sideline the dignity and rights of LGBTQ people. We must do better as a nation. In West Hollywood, we embrace a core value of respect and support for all people. Discrimination should never be tolerated. We will continue our tireless fight for full equality for LGBTQ people everywhere.
According to court records, Lorie Smith wanted to expand her graphic design business, 303 Creative LLC, to include services for couples seeking wedding websites. But Ms. Smith worried that Colorado would use the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to compel her—in violation of the First Amendment—to create websites celebrating marriages she does not endorse. To clarify her rights, Ms. Smith filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent
the State from forcing her to create websites celebrating marriages that defy her belief that marriage should be reserved to unions between one man and one woman.
During the same time last year, the United State’s Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v Wade, which has lead to abortion bans in the U.S. According to the majority opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the Supreme Court of the United States voted to overturn Roe v. Wade’s holding of a federal constitutional right to an abortion. The landmark US Supreme Court decision was issued in 1973 and legalized abortion in the United States. The opinion is a repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito wrote.
This is purely about the right not to be compelled to create content (“speech,” broadly defined) contrary to your beliefs.