A U.S. appeals court on Monday ruled
against a business owner challenging Colorado's LGBT protections law.
In her lawsuit, Lorie Smith claimed that
the law should be withdrawn because it would force her to create
wedding websites for gay and lesbian couples.
A three-judge panel of the 10th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver denied Smith's challenge to
the law, the AP reported.
Smith is represented by the Alliance
Defending Freedom (ADF), an Arizona-based group opposed to LGBT
rights. ADF lawyers argued that the law forced Smith to violate her
Christian beliefs.
“The government should never force
creative professionals to promote a message or cause with which they
disagree,” ADF's John Bursch said in a statement. “That is
quintessential free speech and artistic freedom.”
LGBT legal group Lambda Legal supported
the law in a brief.
“This really isn’t about cake or
websites or flowers,” Lambda Legal senior counsel Jennifer C. Pizer
said in a statement. “It’s about protecting LGBTQ people and
their families from being subjected to slammed doors, service
refusals and public humiliation in countless places – from
fertility clinics to funeral homes and everywhere in between.”
ADF has said it will appeal the ruling.