What Did the Supreme Court Do?!
By Sassafras Lowrey
If you have been following the news you probably heard about the recent Supreme Court decision that has a direct impact on the LGBTQ+ community. On June 30th the United States Supreme Court made a ruling that took many LGBTQ+ people by surprise and shifted the way that LGBTQ+ people may be protected when accessing certain businesses. The 303 Creative v. Elenis case focused on if a public business can refuse service to potential customers if the service goes against the business owner’s religious belief. In this case, a Christian web designer wanted to refuse to create wedding websites for same-sex couples because of a religious objection. The Supreme Court in 6 votes to 3 vote ruling decided in favor of the Colorado Christian web designer.
What was the ruling?
The case challenged the Colorado public accommodations law which requires businesses to serve everyone equally. This web designer claimed that anti-discrimination laws required her to create messages (same-sex wedding websites) that she was not in agreement with. The Supreme Court siding with the web designer came as a big surprise to many people in the LGBTQ+ community. In addition, in recent years the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of protections for the LGBTQ+ community including legalizing same-sex marriage nationally, as well as expanding workplace protections for the community leading many to assume similar rulings would follow in the future. This ruling walks protections for the LGBTQ+ community back by saying in some circumstances it’s ok for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
What is the 1st amendment?
This Supreme Court case focuses on first amendment rights but what is the first amendment? The First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The first amendment is generally understood by most to be the freedom of speech, but it also provides protection for protest and assembly, including protesting against the government, and freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. In this supreme court case, the first amendment was being used to argue that it was ok to discriminate against LGBTQ couples. Because the website work involved custom words and art, the court determined that she couldn’t be legally forced to produce art she didn’t agree with, and to do so would be in violation of the first amendment.
Voice of descent:
Although the recent supreme court ruling is disappointing, it’s important to recognize that it was not an unanimous vote. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent, or disagreement with the ruling. On behalf of the three liberal justices who voted against this Justice Sotomayor wrote “Time and again businesses and other commercial entities have claimed a constitutional right to discriminate and time and again this court has courageously stood up to those claims. Until today. Today, this court shrinks.” She also powerfully wrote “Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.” Right now, the United States Supreme Court has a conservative majority because former president Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court. Although this gives the court’s conservative justices the majority, that doesn’t mean it’s how the majority of people in the country believe, and there is hope moving forward we can continue to push for protections for LGBTQ+ people.
What does this mean for LGBTQ people?
Although this decision is disconcerting for many LGBTQ people it’s important to know that many legal advocates and experts see the ruling as limited, at least at this point. Because the case’s “success” centered on the idea that the website designer was being asked to do custom art, it’s appropriate to be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples. However, that doesn’t automatically apply to all other goods and services and doesn’t mean every business can start refusing to serve LGBTQ+ people. Thankfully, this Supreme Court ruling is limited in terms of what businesses will be able to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people and focus on businesses generating creative content. However, this is a concerning precedent-setting moment that may open the door for future cases of businesses refusing services to our community.
Your feelings are valid:
Even though this Supreme Court ruling is somewhat limited in its focus, it’s also overwhelming and scary for many LGBTQ+ people of all ages. Especially with so many homophobic and transphobic legislative actions in various states around the country, this can feel like one more way our community is being attacked. If you’re distressed or upset about the Supreme Court news you aren’t alone! It’s scary to feel like our rights are being taken away but try to remember there are advocates working hard to protect our community. If you feel worried about what this means it can be helpful to talk about how you are feeling with LGBTQ+ identified and supportive, friends, family, and community members.
About the Author:
Sassafras Lowrey’s novels and nonfiction books have been honored by organizations ranging from the American Library Association to the Lambda Literary Foundation and the Dog Writers Association of America. Sassafras’ work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Sassafras has taught queer writing courses and workshops at LitReactor, the NYC Center For Fiction and at colleges, conferences, and LGBTQ youth centers across the country. You can find more of Sassafaras’ written works, including an edited collection exploring LGBTQ+ youth homelessness entitled Kicked Out, at www.SassafrasLowrey.com.
