Judge Rules Photographer Cannot Be Forced to Shoot Same-Sex Weddings
A federal judge ruled yesterday that the city of Louisville, Kentucky, cannot ban a Christian photographer from limiting her wedding photography business to opposite-sex couples.
In the lawsuit which Petapixel has previously reported on, photographer Chelsey Nelson challenged a Louisville law that required her to take photographs and blog online for same-sex weddings.
Louisville’s 20-year-old “Fairness Ordinance” prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, the lawsuit, filed on behalf of wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson by the conservative advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, alleges that the city’s law infringes on Nelson’s freedom of religion and speech.
The lawsuit claims that this ordinance could be used to “force Chelsey to create photographs for, blog about, and participate in solemn ceremonies she disagrees with—same-sex wedding ceremonies.”
Nelson filed the suit preemptively, having never been approached by a same-sex couple for a wedding photography shoot. However, she claimed that her wedding photography business had suffered because of the Fairness Ordinance, saying she was afraid to market openly in case she was fined.
On her photography website, Nelson writes “God’s word greatly impacts my life and business. Practically, this means I don’t photograph every wedding that comes my way.”
“I also can’t photograph anything that conflicts with my religious conviction that marriage is a covenant relationship before God between one man and one woman,” she adds
More at: https://petapixel.com/2022/08/31/judge-rules-photographer-cannot-be-forced-to-shoot-same-sex-weddings/