In a landmark judgement today, the U.
S. Supreme Court ruled that some private businesses can refuse service to same-sex couples for religious reasons, in a landmark erosion of anti-discrimination laws.
Lorie Smith, owner of website design firm 303 Creative, challenged a Colorado state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating on the basis of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
Smith said that creating marriage announcements for same-sex couples would be "inconsistent" with her Christian beliefs and being compelled to do so would violate her First Amendment free speech rights.
On Friday, June 30, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in her favor.
Colorado "seeks to use its law to compel an individual to create speech she does not believe," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the decision backed by all of the top court's conservatives.
"That principle would allow the government to force all manner of artists, speechwriters, and others whose services involve speech to speak what they do not believe on pain of penalty," Gorsuch wrote.
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