Posted on 08/25/2013 7:47:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In New Mexico, professional photographers may not refuse to work at gay weddings, that state's Supreme Court decided Thursday.
When Elane Photography refused to work for Vanessa Willock at her same-sex wedding, the Court said, it violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations based upon sexual orientation.
"First, we conclude that a commercial photography business that offers its services to the public, thereby increasing its visibility to potential clients, is subject to the antidiscrimination provisions of the NMHRA and must serve same-sex couples on the same basis that it serves opposite-sex couples," Justice Edward Chavez wrote for the majority.
Chavez also wrote that refusing to work at a same-sex wedding is equivalent to refusing to work at a mixed-race wedding: "Therefore, when Elane Photography refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony, it violated the NMHRA in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races."
Elane Photography is not protected by their rights to freely exercise their religion, which are protected by the U.S. Constitution, because the NMHRA is a "neutral law of general applicability," the Court said. This means that the law does not target a specific religious group when it restricts Elane Photography's religious freedom.
In the proceedings, Elane Photography argued that it did not discriminate based upon sexual orientation because it would have photographed same-sex couples in other contexts. It was only the conveyance of a same-sex marriage in the company's photos that conflicted with the owner's religious beliefs.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Richard Bosson said that Elane Photography must be forced to violate their religious beliefs because of "the tolerance that lubricates the varied moving parts of us as a people. ... it is the price of citizenship."
"The idea that free people can be 'compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives' as the 'price of citizenship' is a chilling and unprecedented attack on freedom," said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom and one of the lawyers for Elane Photography. "Americans are now on notice that the price of doing business is their freedom. We are considering our next steps, including asking the U.S. Supreme Court to right this wrong."
In a Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,000 adults conducted last month, 85 percent of respondents said that a Christian wedding photographer should be able to turn down work for a same-sex wedding.
I’m fairly sure there are lots of homos with cameras in NM, that can do the job. This sounds more like a set up!
Conservatives cannot just keep retreating to boundaries of other states. I have said it before and will say it again: Liberalism is an insidious metastatic presence everywhere, even in ostensibly conservative states such at Texas.
There isn’t a border, wall or fence that can keep liberalism at bay. It must be fought.
“This is more a matter of trying to salvage anything worth saving, if possible. How long do we continue to try?”
That’s the $64,000 question! My guess is that it will start after 2014 if the GOPe manages to loose the House. If things go our way next year, we may get a reprieve until 2016. Then, if Hitlary wins all bets are off.
Seriously, that's what the Lutherans did in last year's Hosanna-Tabor USSC case. They won partly because they established that the teachers in their church-related school are in fact ministers and thus not covered by the EEOC. Yes!!!!
Is that also the reason that “Christian” congresscritters are totally mute when it comes to the persecution of Copts in Egypt?
On Judgment Day they will have to justify their inaction.
On election day no one will care.
If I were a photographer, I would far rather refuse outright to photograph a gay "wedding" than deliberately botch the job. Those pictures might get around and affect my legitimate wedding photo business.
I'd just keep the gay stuff out of my professional portfolio, and for any wedding-related clientele, make sure that any of my pieces of paper that are delivered to the customer (invoices, envelopes, folders, etc.) have colourful photos of blatant acts of heterosexual love, and possibly Matthew 19:4-5, printed all over it. Chew it, deviants.
RE: t’s Godly to treat others equally when it’s something they are born with.
How to respond to NJ Gov. Chris Christie, who said: “If someone is born that way, it’s very difficult to say then that that’s a sin,”
Of COURSE this is a set up. Just like the Denver baker who refused to make the cake for the gay couple "married" in MA.
I am sure that if anyone researched this story, that the photographer was specifically targeted for harassment and a shakedown.
I'd like to know just how these Christian run businesses just HAPPEN to be the ones that gays select, out of hundreds of other possible places.
Wouldn't surprise me if the gay couples were told specifically to do a "test run" and see if they could create a $hit storm, humiliate the businesses and collect publicity and cash.
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