/Image courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom
By Dillon Rosenblatt | Arizona Capitol Times
The Arizona Supreme Court says Phoenix cannot force owners of a business to create wedding invitations for same-sex couples.
This 4-3 decision, issued today, is nationally historic, as the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to decide on any anti-LGBT case. In the most notable instance, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the country’s highest court did not directly address whether civil rights lawsuits based on sexual identity could be an exception for religious-based businesses.
“The enduring strength of the First Amendment is that it allows people to speak their minds and express their beliefs without government interference. But here, the City effectively cuts off Planitiffs’ right to express their beliefs about same-sex marriage by telling them what they can and cannot say,” Justice Andrew Gould wrote for the majority.
But in the carefully worded decision, the justices refused to give blanket protection to all businesses — including Brush & Nib — to simply turn away customers because of their sexual orientation. Gould said it leaves open the question of whether the two women could be forced to produce other products, like place cards for receptions, which do not specifically celebrate the marriage.
And it leaves in legal limbo the ability of Phoenix and other cities to enforce their ordinances that make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation.
