Christian photographer wins lawsuit towards Louisville over same-sex discrimination rule

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 3, 2025 /
09:30 am

A federal court docket awarded nominal damages to a Christian photographer after town authorities of Louisville, Kentucky, sought to implement an anti-discrimination ordinance that might have compelled her to offer images providers for same-sex civil weddings.

Judge Benjamin Beaton discovered that Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance contained “two provisions” that restricted the expression of Christian wedding ceremony photographer Chelsey Nelson, who sought $1 in damages. The court docket awarded Nelson the requested damages. 

According to the ruling, the ordinance prohibited “the denial of goods and services to members of protected classes,” which incorporates folks with same-sex attraction. 

The publication provision of the ordinance additionally prevented her “from writing and publishing any indication or explanation that she wouldn’t photograph same-sex weddings, or that otherwise causes someone to feel unwelcome or undesirable based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.” 

Both provisions, Beaton dominated, “limit Nelson’s freedom to express her beliefs about marriage.”

The court docket said Nelson “suffered a First Amendment injury” as a result of she determined to restrict the promotion of her enterprise, ignore alternatives posted on-line, chorus from promoting to develop her enterprise, and censored herself, which was carried out to keep away from prosecution.

“The government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe, and state officials have paid and will continue to pay a price when they violate this foundational freedom,” Nelson said in a statement by means of her attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom following the ruling.

“The freedom to speak without fear of censorship is a God-given constitutionally guaranteed right,” she added.

In his ruling, Beaton famous the Supreme Court set nationwide precedent when it dominated on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. In that call, the court docket dominated a Colorado regulation violated an online designer’s First Amendment rights as a result of it will have compelled him to design web sites for same-sex civil weddings despite his spiritual beliefs.

Beaton wrote that despite the Supreme Court precedent, “Louisville apparently still ‘actively enforces’ the ordinance … [and] still won’t concede that the First Amendment protects Nelson from compelled expression.” 

His ruling famous that the mayor publicly said that he would maintain implementing the ordinance, together with towards Nelson, after the 303 Creative choice.

Although town’s legal professionals argued in court docket that town didn’t intend to implement the regulation towards Nelson, Beaton wrote: “Nothing in Louisville’s informal disavowal would prevent the city from making good on that promise [to enforce the rule against Nelson] tomorrow.”

“Anyone who’s tussled with the city’s lawyers this long and who continues to do business in and around Louisville might reasonably look askance at the city’s assurances that enforcement is unlikely,” Beaton wrote in his ruling.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart mentioned in a press release that “free speech is for everyone” and the precedent set in 303 Creative ensures that Americans “have the freedom to express and create messages that align with their beliefs without fear of government punishment.”

“For over five years, Louisville officials said they could force Chelsey to promote views about marriage that violated her religious beliefs,” he mentioned. 

“But the First Amendment leaves decisions about what to say with the people, not the government. The district court’s decision rests on this bedrock First Amendment principle and builds on the victory in 303 Creative.”

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