By Duffy Oakley, staff writer.
On August 30th, a U.S. district court judge ruled that Louisville’s “Fairness Ordinance”—city legislation passed in 1999 that prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity—violated a wedding photographer’s First Amendment free speech rights and religious freedom by forcing her business to serve same-sex couples despite her personal religious belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. The precedent set by this decision could mean that the Fairness Ordinances in other cities across the Commonwealth—including the one passed in Danville in 2014—may now be unenforceable.
The Mayor of Louisville has said the city is likely to appeal the ruling, while a similar case will be heard by the 6-3 conservative-majority Supreme Court in its next session. The Court declined to resolve this question in 2018 when it ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple (that ruling only applied to that specific case). Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision (Bostock v. Clayton County) that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity violates LGBTQ+ people’s Fourteenth Amendment rights to equality under the law, but that decision did not extend to public accommodations. Furthermore, the makeup of the court has changed, with liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg having been succeeded by conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett, which could lead to that precedent being overturned. In the meantime, the clash between religious freedom and anti-discrimination laws continues, with LGBTQ+ rights hanging in the balance.