Seth Udinski, FISM News
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In the latest update in the battle for religious freedom in America, a court in New York has forced a Christian wedding photographer to go against her religious beliefs and has prohibited her from refusing homosexual clients.
Earlier this week, Judge Frank Geraci of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York ordered that local Christian photographer Emilee Carpenter must open up her photography business to gay couples, even though it would cause her to violate her Christian faith. The ruling said,
New York has a compelling interest in ensuring that individuals, without regard to sexual orientation, have equal access to publicly available goods and services, and that the Accommodation clause is narrowly tailored, as applied to Plaintiff, to serve that interest…New York’s public accommodation laws are neutral. By only bringing an as-applied challenge, Plaintiff virtually concedes that the laws are facially neutral. … She raises no non-conclusory factual allegations that the laws were enacted with any kind of religious (or anti-religious) motivation.
This case is not unlike another from earlier this year, involving Christian photographer Lori Smith from Colorado. Like the New York case, the Colorado incident ended with the religious freedoms of a business owner being taken away to fall in line with what the culture deems as socially acceptable.
Jonathan Scruggs. one of Carpenter’s attorneys, said after the ruling,
The court’s decision continues down a dangerous path of the government compelling artists to speak messages that violate their religious beliefs — or imposing steep fines, closing their businesses, or throwing them in jail… Artists like Emilee and Lorie Smith in Colorado are protected under the Constitution to freely live and work according to their religious beliefs. Emilee and Lorie happily serve all people; they just cannot promote messages which contradict their religious beliefs, including their views on marriage.