Christian Photographer Wins Lawsuit Over Proper to Refuse Identical-Intercourse Weddings

A federal court docket has dominated that the town authorities of Louisville, Kentucky, violated a marriage photographer’s rights by making an attempt to make her present companies for same-sex weddings.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky discovered the town answerable for infringing Christian marriage ceremony photographer Chelsey Nelson’s constitutional rights and ordered it to pay nominal damages.

Judge Benjamin Beaton discovered that Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance included “two provisions” that restricted Nelson’s potential to specific her beliefs as a Christian marriage ceremony photographer. Nelson, who sought $1 in damages, was awarded that quantity by the court docket.

Nelson grew to become conscious of Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance in 2019 and concluded that two sections of the regulation restricted how she might function her marriage ceremony pictures enterprise. The ordinance, which prohibits discrimination in public lodging, imposed potential civil penalties and monetary damages on enterprise house owners who refused to offer companies for same-sex weddings.

One provision of the ordinance prohibited “the denial of goods and services to members of protected classes,” which incorporates same-sex {couples}. Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance additionally barred 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,” based on the lawsuit.

Nelson mentioned complying would have contradicted her Christian convictions in her marriage ceremony pictures enterprise. The regulation additionally prevented her from posting statements about her Biblical views on marriage on her pictures studio’s web site.

“When you’re a new business owner getting started and you’re worried that you might have a $10,000 fine come upon you just out of nowhere at any moment, just for trying to quietly operate your business in a way that’s consistent with your convictions, that obviously stifles creative energy,” Nelson tells Christian outlet World News Group (WNG). “It made me fearful to grow my business, because the more well-known you are, the more people see what you stand for.”

Nelson mentioned that worry of potential penalties made her hesitant to advertise her enterprise or search new purchasers as a marriage photographer, as she apprehensive elevated visibility might draw the town’s consideration.

“I don’t want to be quiet about my faith. I want to celebrate it,” Nelson tells WNG. “It influences how I approach, how I care for my clients, the type of message and story I’m telling on a wedding day to celebrate marriage between a man and a woman.”

Nelson filed a lawsuit in opposition to the town in 2019, arguing that the ordinance violated her constitutional rights. In 2022, the District Court dominated in her favor however didn’t award damages. The metropolis appealed to the sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Nelson additionally appealed, looking for damages. On October 1, the District Court reaffirmed its earlier determination upholding free speech protections, maintained the injunction stopping enforcement in opposition to her, and awarded her nominal damages for the interval through which the town’s actions restricted her expression.

The information comes months after a federal court docket accepted a $225,000 settlement in a case involving Christian photographer Emilee Carpenter from New York, who challenged state legal guidelines she mentioned required her to specific messages that conflicted together with her spiritual beliefs.

---

Image credit: Header picture licensed through Depositphotos.