Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Missouri County Treasurer Will Accept Same-Sex Marriages From Other States In Unclaimed Property Claims
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Wedding Photographer Successfully Challenges Anti-Discrimination Ordinance
In Chelsey Nelson Photography LLC v. Louisville/ Jefferson County Metro Government, (WD KY, Aug. 14, 2020), a Kentucky federal district court held that a wedding photographer is likely to succeed in her Free Speech challenge to Louisville, Kentucky's Fairness Ordinance. That law prohibits a business from denying services to an individual based on the person's sexual orientation, and from advertising that it will engage in such discrimination. Holding that plaintiff's wedding photography is speech, the court said in part:
Nelson is a photographer, editor, and blogger. She takes engagement and wedding photos with artistic skill....
Nelson is also a Christian. Her faith shapes everything she does, including how she operates her photography studio. She believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. For that reason, she would decline to photograph a same-sex wedding, and she would decline to edit photos from a same-sex wedding. She wants to explain these views on her website....
Louisville can’t ban expression just because it finds the expression offensive.
To be clear, most applications of anti-discrimination laws — including Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance — are constitutional. Today’s ruling is not a license to discriminate. Nor does it allow for the “serious stigma” that results from a sign in the window announcing that an owner won’t serve gay and lesbian customers.... Marriott cannot refuse a room to a same-sex couple. McDonald’s cannot deny a man dinner simply because he is gay. Neither an empty hotel room, nor a Big Mac, is speech.
ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
UK Equality Commission Wants European Court To Require Accommodation of Employees' Religious Beliefs
Monday, May 28, 2012
District Court Invalidates DOMA and Related Care Insurance Restrictions
the legislative record contains evidence of anti-gay animus and the BLAG has failed to establish that § 3 of the DOMA is rationally related to a legitimate government interest. Accordingly, Plaintiff same-sex spouses are entitled to summary judgment that § 3 of the DOMA is invalid under the Constitution’s equal protection principles to the extent that the law blocks their access to the CalPERS long-term care plan....
Because Congress’s restriction on state-maintained long-term care plans lacks any rational relationship to a legitimate government interest, but rather appears to be motivated by antigay animus, the exclusion of registered domestic partners of public employees from § 7702B(f)’s list of individuals eligible to enroll in state-maintained long-term care plans violates the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.Metro Weekly reports on the decision.
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Refusing To Provide Photography Services To Same-Sex Ceremony Violates State Anti-Discrimination Law
Elane Photography’s owners are Christians who believe that marriage is a sacred union of one man and one woman. They also believe that photography is an artistically expressive form of communication and photographing a same-sex commitment ceremony would disobey God and the teachings of the Bible by communicating a message contrary to their religious and personal beliefs.Rejecting Elane Photography's free expression arguments, the court held:
the mere fact that a business provides a good or service with a recognized expressive element does not allow the business to engage in discriminatory practices.... While Elane Photography does exercise some degree of control over the photographs it is hired to take... this control does not transform the photographs into a message from Elane Photography.The court also rejected Elane Photography claim that applying the Human Rights Act to it would violate its free exercise of religion protected by the U.S. and New Mexico constitutions. It held that the statute is a neutral law of general applicability. Finally it rejected a claim under the New Mexico Religious Freedom Restoration Act, concluding that it applies only to suits in which government agencies are the adverse parties, not to suits against a private individual or business. Volokh Conspiracy has an extensive discussion of this aspect of the case, as well as a posting on its more general holding.
Judge Wechsler filed a concurrence in the case, arguing that the New Mexico constitution's free exercise clause is broader than that in the First Amendment, but also concluding that Elane Photography had not properly preserved that issue for appeal. WND reports on the decision.
Friday, June 06, 2014
Another Temporary Stay For Same-Sex Couples Married In Utah During Gap Period
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Suit Challenges South Carolina's Refusal To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages
Thursday, May 01, 2014
Suit Challenges Ohio's Refusal To Allow Same-Sex Marriages
Ohio Rev. Code § 3101.01 and OH Const. Art. XV, §11 violate fundamental liberties that are protected by the Freedom of Association Clause of the First Amendment, and the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment on their face.Cincinnati Enquirer reports on the filing of the lawsuit.
Friday, July 18, 2014
State Trial Court Voids Florida's Ban On Same-Sex Marriages; Appeal Stays Decision
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Court Rejects Challenges To Foster Care Agency Non-Discrimination Requirement
CSS’s compliance with the terms of the Services Contract does not: constrain or inhibit CSS from conduct or expression mandated by its religious beliefs, curtail CSS’s ability to express adherence to CSS’s religious faith, deny CSS a reasonable opportunity to “provide foster care to children,” or compel CSS to engage in conduct or expression that violates a “specific tenet” of CSS’s religious faith....
CSS contends that the provision of certification services for same-sex couples would require CSS to express its religious approval of same-sex relationships in contravention of Catholic teaching about marriage. This is not the case. To illustrate this point, if, for example, CSS were to certify a couple where one spouse is previously divorced, CSS’s certification would not suggest that CSS approved of divorce as a religious matter.Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the decision.
Monday, September 09, 2013
Group Urges SEC To Expand Accredited Investor Rule To Cover Same-Sex Couples
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Missouri Court Denies TRO To Prevent Same-Sex Couples' Joint Tax Filings
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Defense Secretary Chastises State National Guards That Are Refusing To Issue ID To Same-Sex Spouses
... [A]ll spouses of service members are entitled to DoD ID cards, and the benefits that come with them. But several states today are refusing to issue these IDs to same-sex spouses at National Guard facilities. Not only does this violate the states’ obligations under federal law, but their actions have created hardship and inequality by forcing couples to travel long distances to federal military bases to obtain the ID cards they’re entitled to.
This is wrong. It causes division among our ranks, and it furthers prejudice, which DoD has fought to extinguish, as has the ADL.
Today, I directed the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, General Frank Grass, to take immediate action to remedy this situation. At my direction, he will meet with the Adjutants General from the states where these ID cards are being declined and denied. The Adjutants General will be expected to comply with both lawful direction and DoD policy, in line with the practices of 45 other states and jurisdictions.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Suit Challenges North Carolina's Marriage Laws As Free Exercise and Establishment Violations
Friday, July 24, 2015
Indiana Deputy Clerk, Fired For Refusing To Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licences, Sues [UPDATED]
UPDATE: Despite the Courier Journal's quote from plaintiff's counsel that the lawsuit is "just a generic First Amendment free exercise case", now that I have a copy of the complaint it appears that the suit is based on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Here is the full text of the complaint in Summers v. Whitis, (SD IN, (filed 7/17/2015). [Thanks to Greg Lipper for the copy of the complaint.]
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Baker With Religious Objections to Same-Sex Marriage Did Not Violate California's Civil Rights Law
In a tentative decision which becomes final in ten days unless objections are filed, a California state trial court has concluded that a bakery which refuses on religious grounds to furnish custom designed cakes for same-sex weddings and instead refers customers to another bakery for such items did not violate the Unruh Civil Rights Act. In Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Cathy's Creations, Inc., (CA Super. Ct., Oct. 21, 2022), the court concluded that the state failed to prove intentional sexual orientation discrimination, saying in part:
Miller and Tastries do not design and do not offer to any person-- regardless of sexual orientation-- custom wedding cakes that "contradict God's sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman.
The court went on to hold that because California's Unruh Civil Rights Act is a neutral law of general applicability, the state did not violate defendant's free exercise rights. However, application of the Unruh Civil Rights Act here would violate defendants' free speech rights because it would compel expressive conduct based on content or viewpoint. Thomas More Society issued a press release announcing the decision.
Friday, June 02, 2017
Farmers' Market's Exclusion of Vendor Over Same-Sex Marriages Views Is Challenged
Monday, July 27, 2015
Recent Articles of Interest
- John R. Morss, The International Legal Status of the Vatican/Holy See Complex, (Forthcoming, European Journal of International Law).
- Rex Ahdar, Solemnisation of Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom, (Ecclesiastical Law Journal / Volume 16 / Issue 03 / September 2014, pp 283 - 305).
- Richard Moon, Conscientious Objections by Civil Servants: The Case of Marriage Commissioners and Same Sex Civil Marriages, (June 30, 2015).
- Stephen D, Sugarman, Is It Unconstitutional to Prohibit Faith-Based Schools from Becoming Charter Schools?, (July 21, 2015).
- Geoffrey Brahm Levey, Secularism as Proto-Multiculturalism: The Case of Australia, (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper No. RSCAS 2015/56, July 2015).
- Nadia N. Sawicki, Mandating Disclosure of Religious Limitations on Medical Practice, (Loyola University Chicago School of Law Research Paper No. 2015-016 (July 2015)).
- Harlan Grant Cohen, Zivotofsky II's Two Visions for Foreign Relations Law, (109 AJIL Unbound 10 (2015)).
- C. Christine Fair, Sharia, Piety and Maslak: Support for Sectarian Violence in Pakistan, (July 20, 2015).