Washington, D.C.— June 2, 2022. Today, the Center for Religious Expression (CRE) filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to protect a Christian website designer from being forced to design websites and write words promoting same-sex weddings and other messages inconsistent with her faith.
Lorie Smith owns and operates a Colorado-based business called 303 Creative, through which she personally designs websites. While she is willing to create websites for anyone, her Christian faith and conscience do not allow her to create websites promoting same-sex weddings, among other things she considers immoral.
However, Lorie’s freedom to select the messages she wishes to promote through website design is in jeopardy. Colorado enforces its Anti-Discrimination Act to make individuals celebrate same-sex weddings whether they like it or not. Under the First Amendment, Lorie has the right to decline creating anything inconsistent with her faith, but Colorado disagrees and is unconstitutionally forcing her to promote messages contrary to her faith.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to acknowledge Lorie’s fundamental freedoms. CRE is asking the Supreme Court to overturn this decision, which would force Lorie to promote messages that would effectively put her out of business.
“Free speech is not free if the government makes you speak,” said CRE Chief Counsel Nate Kellum. “Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act discriminates against people like Lorie, demanding business owners promote government-sanctioned dogma against their conscience. It is our prayer the Supreme Court will restore the freedom of speech and conscience for Lorie and all Americans.”
Center for Religious Expression is a servant-oriented, non-profit 501(c)(3) Christian legal organization dedicated to the glory of God and the religious freedom of His people. For more information, visit http://www.crelaw.org.
