Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe US supreme court is poised to strike another blow against gay rights
The US supreme court is poised to strike another blow against gay rights
Moira Donegan
The court is hearing a case that could allow the kind of naked discrimination that the gay rights and civil rights movements fought so hard to end
Tue 6 Dec 2022 06.03 EST
(Guardian UK) Its not clear what, exactly, Lorie Smiths problem is. The Colorado woman aspires to be a web designer; apparently, shes also upset that gay people can get married. Smith is an evangelical Christian who says that her faith makes her object to same-sex marriage.
This wouldnt be anyones problem, except that Smith lives in a state with a robust civil rights law, one that forbids business owners who make their services available to the public from discriminating. But Smith really wants to discriminate: she hopes to be able to turn away gay clients from her as-yet-hypothetical wedding website business; she wants to put a banner at the top of her business homepage proclaiming her unwillingness to design websites for gay weddings. The law would forbid this if she ever went into business, so shes suing.
As of now, none of this has actually come up. At the time Smith filed her lawsuit, demanding an exemption to her states law, she didnt even have a business with which to discriminate. The law has never been enforced against her; shes never had the opportunity to discriminate that she so craves. Its not clear, in other words, that she really has standing to sue shes never been forced to provide services to gay people, so, in legal parlance, theres no injury to speak of. But Smith is an angry conservative, and shes found some very well-funded lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a huge rightwing legal organization that has embarked on a nationwide campaign of lawsuits to erode civil rights protections for gay people.
The result is 303 Creative v Elenis, a case in which Smith argues that her religious convictions mean that she shouldnt have to comply with a generally applicable civil rights law, and should be granted license to discriminate by her state. The US supreme court heard oral arguments on Monday, and the 6-3 conservative majority is certain to hand Smith a victory allowing her to deny service to clients based on sexual orientation.
A decision from the court is expected next summer. The question, as happens so often with this rabidly conservative court, is not who is going to win. That question was probably answered the moment the court agreed to hear the case, to the point that briefings and oral arguments in hot-button culture and identity cases like 303 Creative have been rendered largely moot. ................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/06/us-supreme-court-colorado-gay-rights
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
1 replies, 529 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (2)
ReplyReply to this post
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The US supreme court is poised to strike another blow against gay rights (Original Post)
marmar
Dec 2022
OP
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)1. Wait, wait; you mean THIS Alliance Defending Freedom?