Sonia Sotomayor, who makes up the liberal judges of the court. she wrote in her dissent that the effect of the decision is to “mark gays and lesbians as second class” and that it opens the door for other kinds of discrimination.
The court ruled by six votes to three in favor of graphic designer Lorie Smith despite a law in Colorado, where she lives, that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith argued that the law violates her right to free speech.
Smith’s opponents warned that a ruling in his favor would allow a range of businesses to refuse to serve people who are black, Jewish or Muslim, couples between people of different races or religions or immigrants. Smith and his supporters argued that a ruling against him would force painters, photographers, writers, musicians and other artists to do work contrary to their beliefs.
Smith’s attorney, Kristen Wagoner, said the Supreme Court was right to reaffirm that the government can’t force people to say things they don’t believe.
“Dissent is not discrimination and the government cannot mischaracterize expression of discrimination in order to censor it,” it said in a statement.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote on behalf of the six right-wing justices that the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, “conceives of America as a rich and complex place where all people are free to think and speak as they do.” they want, not as the government requires.”
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, on behalf of the dissident minority, wrote in her dissent that “today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public the constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class ”.
The ruling marks a triumph for religious rights in a series of cases in recent years where judges have ruled in favor of religious claimants. Last year, the court ruled by a majority in favor of a football coach who prays on the field of his public high school after every game.
For two decades, the court has expanded LGBTQ rights, most notably legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015 and announcing five years later that civil rights law protects gay, lesbian, and transgender people from discrimination. labor. The framer of that decision was Gorsuch.
But at the same time, the court has said that people who believe for religious reasons that marriage can only be between a man and a woman should be respected.
FUENTE: Associated Press
