The Supreme Court’s fall term features a major case that will push the question of religious liberty back into the national spotlight as the court determines whether or not a Colorado woman can be forced to violate her religious beliefs about marriage.
Lorie Smith, an artist and small business owner, is challenging a Colorado state law for her right to refuse creative services when they conflict with her religious beliefs.
Smith, the plaintiff in the case, 303 Creative vs. Elenis, is suing members of the state’s government — including the director of the state’s civil rights division, Aubrey Elenis — in a challenge to a Colorado law that would require her to design websites celebrating same-sex marriages, something she opposes as a Christian.
Smith is being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the same conservative legal nonprofit that represented fellow Coloradan Jack Phillips in the well-known Masterpiece Cakeshop case that went to the Supreme Court in 2018.
“Colorado is trying to compel [Smith] to celebrate and create custom work for marriages that she doesn’t agree with,” Matt Sharp, senior counsel for ADF, told CNA in an interview.
“This is ultimately about whether our Constitution protects artists like Lorie, who simply want to be able to serve everyone but not create all messages,” he added.
Smith is the owner of 303 Creative, a graphic- and website-design business based out of Denver that she has run since 2012.
According to her testimony, Smith believed that God was calling her to “promote and celebrate his design for marriage” by making custom wedding websites for heterosexual couples. Smith detailed her belief in the sanctity of biblical marriage to potential clients and on her website.
“As a Christian who believes that God gave me the creative gifts that are expressed through this business, I have always strived to honor him in how I operate it,” Smith’s website reads. “Because of my faith, however, I am selective about the messages that I create or promote.”
While Smith states that she serves “anyone,” she is selective about not communicating and promoting ideas or messages “that are inconsistent with my religious beliefs.”
The complaint explains that Smith would “gladly” create designs for LGBTQ-identifying clients “so long as the custom graphics and websites” do not violate her religious beliefs, just like she would not create designs celebrating abortion or sexual immorality.
But the same Colorado law that punished Jack Phillips for refusing to bake a cake celebrating same-sex marriage is the one Smith argues is preventing her from expressing her religious beliefs.
Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) bans discrimination in places of public accommodation, including on the grounds of sexual orientation and marital status.
According to the original complaint filed by ADF, Smith argued that CADA violated her rights by declaring it illegal for her to decline to design websites that celebrate same-sex marriages.
“Solely because of Colorado law, Lorie and 303 Creative are refraining from expressing their views of God’s design for marriage [and] from offering their services to design, create, and publish wedding websites expressing their desired message celebrating and promoting marriage as an institution between one man and one woman,” Smith’s complaint explains.
Represented by ADF, Smith challenged the law before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in July 2021. Though the court of appeals ruled against her, Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich dissented.
Tymkovich called the majority’s holding “unprecedented” and said that “[t]he Constitution protects Ms. Smith from the government telling her what to say.”