The case gave the court a second bite at a legal question it considered but never resolved when it ruled in a similar case in 2018 in favor of a Christian baker, also from Colorado, who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. In particular, this court has held, public accommodations statutes can sweep too broadly when deployed to compel speech,' he added. 'At the same time, this court has also recognized that no public accommodation law is immune from the demands of the Constitution. Gorsuch, who wrote a 2020 ruling that expanded LGBTQ rights in an employment context, said that public accommodation laws play a vital role in protecting individual civil rights. 'The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place, where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands,' Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Christian graphic artist and website designer Lorie Smith speaks to supporters outside the Supreme Court, on Dec.
The remaining 21 states do not have laws explicitly protecting LGBTQ rights in public accommodations, although some local municipalities do.
The ruling could allow other owners of similar creative businesses to evade punishment under laws in 29 states that protect LGBTQ rights in public accommodations in some form.
