After lower courts upheld a Phoenix
ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation
and gender identity, a Christian law firm has appealed to the Arizona
Supreme Court.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
represents Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib
Studio, which specializes in custom wedding invitations, in their
claim that Phoenix's ordinance conflicts with their religious beliefs
and violates their freedom of speech and religion.
Last month, the Arizona Court of
Appeals ruled against their attempt to invalidate the city's
ordinance.
“[A]llowing a vendor who provides
goods and services for marriages and weddings to refuse similar
services for gay persons would result in 'a community-wide stigma
inconsistent with the history and dynamics of civil rights laws that
ensure equal access to goods, services and public accommodations,'”
the
three-judge panel wrote.
Attorney
Samuel Green argues that the women's work is speech and that “a
law compelling art compels speech.”
Other Arizona communities with similar
ordinances include Tucson, Tempe and Flagstaff, all of which would be
affected if Phoenix's law were struck down by the state's highest
court.
The Arizona Supreme Court has yet to
act on the petition.