The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday
heard arguments in a case involving wedding invitation designers
opposed to Phoenix's LGBT protections law.
Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners
of Brush & Nib Studio, which specializes in custom wedding
invitations, claim that the city's ordinance conflicts with their
religious beliefs and violates their freedoms of speech and religion.
The owners are represented by the
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs
argued that creating wedding invitations for gay and lesbian couples
is the equivalent of celebrating such unions, which is a message the
owners do not want to express.
“It sends a celebratory message about
that wedding,” Scruggs told the court.
Duka and Koski turned to the state's
highest court after losing in lower courts. Last year, the Arizona
Court of Appeals ruled that Brush & Nib cannot legally refuse to
sell their custom-made invitations to same-sex couples.