U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Anti-Gay Photographer's Appeal

Anti-gay bigot, Elaine Huguenin

One of the lunatic wingnut justifications for Arizona's "turn away the gays" bill was that ultimately vetoed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was that "godly Christians" needed to be protected from serving those members of the public whose existence offended their religious sensibilities.  One of the instances cited for the need for the license to discriminate based on feigned claimed religious belief was the case involving Elane Photography which was found to have violated New Mexico's public accommodation statute.  The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld Elane Photography's conviction and the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court (Elane Photography was represented by the same whack jobs at the Alliance Defending Bigotry Freedom who are representing the Prince William County Clerk of Court in the Bostic v. Rainey case).  Today, the U.S. Supreme Court drop kicked Elane Photography and the Alliance Defending Freedom  by refusing to take the appeal from the New Mexico Supreme Court ruling.  The conclusion?  That the Arizona statute and Mississippi's new anti-gay statute were based on lies when they claimed that non-discrimination laws trample on the "religious freedom" of Christofascists.  The Washington Blade has details.  Here are excerpts:

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday it won’t take up a case in which a New Mexico photography business alleges its rights were violated when it landed in hot water for refusing to shoot a same-sex wedding ceremony.

In orders published Monday morning, the court listed the case, Elane Photography v. Willock, without comment as among the cases it won’t consider.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by Elane Photography, which was found to have violated New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law for refusing to take a photo for the same-sex wedding ceremony for Vanessa Willock and Misti Collinsworth in 2006. (The wedding was only ceremonial because the incident took place before the state legalized same-sex marriage.)

Elane Photography filed lawsuit in state court, alleging that its refusal to photograph a same-sex wedding is protected on religious grounds. However, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against the claims, saying the businesses service can be regulated because it’s a public accommodation. Following that decision, Elane Photography asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the lawsuit based on First Amendment protections under the U.S. Constitution.

To grant a writ certiorari, or a take up a case, at least four of the nine justices on the court must agree to consider lawsuit. It’s unknown what the vote was on denying certiorari in this case.  Had the court taken up the case, justices could have found a constitutional right across the country for individuals to discriminate against LGBT people or refuse services for same-sex weddings ceremonies on the basis of religion.

Anti-gay groups had pointed to the incident as a reason to enact laws in various states to allow individuals and business to refuse services to gay people without fear of reprisal, such as the controversial “turn away the gay” bill recently vetoed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. Other bills along those lines are pending in numerous states — Kansas, Mississippi and Georgia — but have seen resistance going forward.

Bigotry is bigotry whether wrapped in claimed religious belief or not and it is fortunate that the Court rejected this case  and sent a message to the Christofascists that they are NOT above the law.