US Supreme Court Ruling Rolling Back LGBTQ+ Rights

The rainbow flag, representing the LGBTQ+ community, appeared in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington DC in 2015.

The ruling was announced with the support of six conservative justices on the US Supreme Court. The court's three liberal justices opposed the decision, saying it was a "new license to discriminate," according to Reuters.

The case involves Lorie Smith, an evangelical Christian and owner of Colorado-based website design company 303 Creative. In 2016, she filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to declare her business exempt from Colorado’s anti-discrimination law if any same-sex couples sought the services she provided.

A federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado — like other federal and state courts that have faced opponents of same-sex marriage — concluded that there was nothing in the U.S. Constitution that would exempt her from a state law requiring businesses to treat all customers equally regardless of their sexual orientation.

The case embodies a long-running debate between two factions in the US Supreme Court: those that want to prioritize religious expression over secular public interests and those that want to extend civil equality to the LGBTQ+ community in the US.

Representing the court’s six conservative justices, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a June 30 ruling that Colorado’s anti-discrimination law cannot be enforced to require a business owner to express opinions she opposes, even if the state considers those views abhorrent. Accordingly, Colorado’s law violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“The opportunity to think for ourselves and freely express those thoughts is one of our most cherished liberties and part of what makes our republic strong,” Gorsuch wrote, with Chief Justice John Roberts concurring along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, according to The Wall Street Journal .

According to the ruling, while “we will all encounter ideas that we consider ‘wrong’ or even offensive, “the First Amendment envisions America as a rich and complex place where all people are free to think and speak as they please, not as government dictates.”

Three liberal justices dissented from the conservatives on the nine-judge panel. "Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public the constitutional right to refuse service to members of a protected class," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.

“By granting a new license to discriminate, in a case brought by a company that denies full and equal access to its services to same-sex couples, the immediate, symbolic effect of this decision is to relegate gays and lesbians to a second-class category. In this way, the decision itself causes a discriminatory harm, in addition to any harm that results from the denial of service,” Sotomayor wrote, with support from Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, criticized the ruling. "In America, no one should face discrimination because of who they are or who they love," Biden said in a statement, adding that he was concerned the ruling could lead to more discrimination.

“More broadly, today’s decision undermines longstanding laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public places — including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women,” the US president said.

Justices on the US Supreme Court have backed LGBTQ+ rights in major cases in recent years, although the court’s balance has shifted to the right. A 2015 ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. A 2020 ruling concluded that a federal law prohibiting workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees.

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