Anti-LGBTQ Web Designer Laughed Out of Denver Court

A Colorado-based web designer was laughed out of court over a case that would’ve allowed her to discriminate against same-gender couples seeking her services for wedding websites.

Lorie Smith and her company, 303 Creative LLC sued Colorado over its anti-discrimination law for seemingly no reason, as she’s never been asked to design for any same-gender couples. The theoretical situation, she claims, would be in violation of her first amendment rights to practice her Christian faith. The attempted lawsuit was said to be based on the same ground as the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, but due to the fact that Smith has never turned away any customers—and setting clear bigotry aside—the suit lacked any justifiable grounds.

“We must also consider the grave harms caused when public accommodations discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation,” Judge Mark Beck Briscoe wrote for the majority of a three-judge panel of the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. “Combatting such discrimination is, like individual autonomy, ‘essential’ to our democratic ideals.”

The panel denied Smith’s appeal after a lower court threw out her lawsuit, meaning her case is dead unless the Supreme Court agrees to hear it.

Smith’s lawsuit relied heavily on Biblical quotes and sentiments, with Smith even saying she “believes that God is calling her to promote and celebrate His design for marriage … between one man and one woman only.”

An anti-LGBTQ hate group, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), represented Smith during the hearings. When asked if Smith would accept work from someone asking to create five wedding websites—for four heterosexual couples and only one for a same-gender couple—ADF said Smith would refuse the entire order on the basis that a website has text and is, therefore, a form of protected speech.

Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson shot back that if Smith were to make a website for heterosexual couple named Alex and Taylor but not for a same-gender couple with those two names, the text would be the same, and free speech isn’t the problem. The real issue, he countered, is Smith’s homophobia.

ADF has stated that they will be appealing the ruling, but at this point, it doesn’t look like the case will gain any significant traction.

The Colorado Solicitor General has previously questioned whether Lorie Smith should even be allowed to challenge the law since she had not started offering wedding websites yet. https://t.co/R7ArjwLi1T

— The Colorado Sun (@ColoradoSun) July 29, 2021