Posted on 04/29/2015 7:51:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Christian print shop owner who refused to print pro-LGBT T-shirts in 2012 has the constitutional right not to print messages that conflict with his Christian beliefs, a Kentucky court ruled on Monday.
After Blaine Adamson, the managing owner of a Lexington print shop called Hands on Originals, refused to print T-shirts for Lexington's 2012 gay pride festival, he was found to be guilty of discrimination by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission last year, even though doing so would have violated his religious conviction. Additionally, the print shop was ordered to serve future requests from LGBT activists.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal advocacy group that defends the right of Christian expression, came to HOO's aid and filed an appeal of the decision. Fayette Circuit Court Judge James D. Ishmael Jr. reversed the Human Rights Commission's decision on Monday and stated the commission went above its statutory authority in siding with the LGBT legal group, the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization of Lexington.
"The order from the Human Rights Commission violates the recognized constitutional rights of HOO and its owners to be free from compelled expression," Ishmael's written opinion asserts. "Hoo and its owners have a constitutional right of freedom of expression from government coercion."
"The commission's order substantially burdens HOO's and its owners' free exercise of religion, wherein the government punished HOO and its owners by its order for their sincerely held religious beliefs," the opinion added. "This is contrary to established constitutional law."
The opinion goes on to explain that the HOO website clearly states that "due to the promotional nature of our products, it is the prerogative of Hands On Originals to refuse any order that would endorse positions that conflict with the convictions of the ownership."
Additionally, HOO has declined at least 13 orders in the last few years because they included messages that the owners disagreed with.
"[Adamson] and his co-owners are Christians who believe that the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God and that they should strive to live consistently with its teachings," the opinion continues. "HOO's owners, through Blaine Adamson, as managing owner, operate HOO consistently with the teachings of the Bible."
Ishmael also debunked the notion that HOO discriminated based on the customers' homosexuality.
"In short, HOO's declination to print the shirts was based upon the message of GLSO and the Pride Festival and not on the sexual orientation of its representatives or members," the decision stated. "In point of fact, there is nothing in the record before the commission that the sexual orientation of any individual that had contact with HOO was ever divulged or played any part in this case."
Jim Campbell, the ADF senior counsel representing HOO in the case, commended the judge's decision as a confirmation that governments cannot force business owners to give up their freedom of expression.
"The government can't force citizens to surrender free-speech rights or religious freedom in order to run a small business, and this decision affirms that," Campbell said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. "The court rightly recognized that the law protects Blaine's decision not to print shirts with messages that conflict with his beliefs, and that no sufficient reason exists for the government to coerce Blaine to act against his conscience in this way."
Martin Cothran, spokesman for statewide social conservative group The Family Foundation of Kentucky, also praised the ruling as a victory for religious liberty.
"We are pleased to see some courts are still acknowledging the First Amendment's right to religious freedom," Cothran issued in a statement. "And that the 'PC police' are not quite powerful enough to convince courts that it doesn't exist."
Ray Sexton, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, told the Lexington Herald Leader that he expects to file an appeal of the circuit court's ruling.
Although LGBT activists are decrying the circuit court's ruling, the decision is similar to a ruling made in Colorado in early April which stated that a pro-LGBT Denver bakery did not discriminate when it refused to make two Bible shaped cakes with biblical verses and phrases displayed on them like "God hates sin. Psalm 45:7."
But this case is a no brainer.
Ditto.
This isn’t going to bode well for the LGBT “gaystapo” crowd. Regardless of what any court decides, people of faith will stand up for their faith, even if comes down to drawing a line in the sand, and literally fighting for those beliefs, consequences be damned.
The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom from the establishment of a government backed religion, which the LGBT crowd is exactly trying to force on everyone, and using the government and the courts to impose their lifestyle on everyone who doesn’t accept their perverse behavior.
All I can say is that this will come back to bite them in the ass in the worst kind of way.
This thing shouldn’t be confined to homosexual requests. A business should’t be required to do anything that conflicts with their personal or religious beliefs.
The gaystapo and the left are not targeting “people of faith”, they’re targeting Christians.
Trying to be PC and abstracting the enemy’s target is like “The Jerk” shouting “he hates these cans!”
Ah, the good old days when the “We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To Anyone” sign actually meant something? If you got one, might as well take it down. Now it seems you WILL serve anyone because to not serve them might offend them. TFB! Your business, your rules. Guess, not so much.
Exactly! But people miss this essential aspect on a regular basis.
Wen one person forces another person to perform some act against their will, outside of the requirements of an established contract (such as military service), then that person is either a tyrant or a slave owner. There’s really no difference.
Well then, let’s agree that the LGBT crowd, and their backers in business and government, have declared war on Christians, and other faiths that take exception to the concept of homosexuality, and the perversion that follows.
That’s what comes down to, so let’s not deny it.
Define the enemy, and then target the enemy. The only goal is to defeat the enemy. Anything less is surrender and capitulation.
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