Arizona Supreme Court Rules In Favour Of A Business Who Wants To Discriminate Against LGBT+ People
The Brush & Nib Studio’s owners haven’t been accused of discrimination, yet they sued to get the state to give them special rights. They sued for the right to refuse to print wedding invitations for gay or lesbian couples.
The company was represented in court by an anti-LGBT+ hate group, namely Alliance Defending Freedom.
Brush & Nib sued Phoenix, arguing that “the city’s ban on discrimination violated the company’s freedom of speech." The company only wanted to print wedding invitations for same-sex couples.
The company’s owners said they were “devout Christians” who wanted to “overturn the civil rights law before any complaints could be filed against them."
Last year a state court of appeals ruled that Phoenix’s anti-discrimination ordinance does not violate anyone’s freedom of speech, “since it advances a legitimate government interest by prohibiting conduct, not speech”.
“Simply stated, if appellants, as an economic entity, want to operate their for-profit business as a public accommodation, they cannot discriminate against potential patrons based on sexual orientation.”
But, a new ruling earlier this week disagreed with what was previously ruled.
“The rights of free speech and free exercise, so precious to this nation since its founding, are not limited to soft murmurings behind the doors of a person’s home or church, or private conversations with like-minded friends and family,” the ruling says. “These guarantees protect the right of every American to express their beliefs in public. This includes the right to create and sell words, paintings, and art that express a person’s sincere religious beliefs.”
“The City of Phoenix cannot apply its Human Relations Ordinance to force Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studios, to create custom wedding invitations celebrating same-sex wedding ceremonies in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
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