Posted Jul 1, 2023, 8:27 AM
This is not the end of gay marriage in the United States, but an irritating and divisive snag. On Friday, between sweeping higher education rulings, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a service provider who refused to serve gay couples citing her Christian beliefs.
Lorie Smith, an evangelical Christian web designer, sued because she feared Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Law would require her to create websites celebrating gay marriage, which she rejects on religious grounds. She said she was fine with having gay clients, but not with giving visibility to what “contradicts biblical truth.”
This right to discriminate derives, according to the Court, from the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of expression. “Of course, complying with the constitutional commitment to free speech means that each of us is going to be confronted with ideas that we consider ‘repulsive’, ‘wrong, or even offensive’. But our Nation’s response is tolerance, not coercion.” writes Judge Neil Gorsuch citing the counterarguments of the three progressive justices.
Expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964
This decision falls in the middle of “Pride month” in the United States, a period during which the shops are adorned with the colors of the rainbow and the defenders of LGBT rights parade in the big cities.
“The court’s decision is only for expressive and original designs, but I am deeply concerned that it could pave the way for more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
He took the opportunity to call on Congress to pass his Equality bill. This text amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 aims to secure the civil rights of sexual and gender minorities at the federal level, but also to extend the ban on discrimination against blacks and Latinos in theatres, transport and businesses.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that states must recognize gay marriage, in the name of the 14th Amendment. To prevent her from reversing this case law, as she did with the right to abortion, President Biden had Congress pass a Gay Marriage Respect Act in December 2022.
Two-thirds of Americans find homosexuality acceptable
While American society has come a long way in the past twenty years, growing ideological divisions and the rise of populism electrify the debate. Thus, the presidential candidate Ron DeSantis does not miss an opportunity to show that he defends “the norm”, against transgender athletes, overly explicit children’s books, etc.
Republican lawmakers have proposed banning rainbow flags from public buildings. Bud Light beer is boycotted after mounting a promotional operation using a transgender influencer.
A June Gallup poll shows that only 64% of Americans consider same-sex relationships “morally acceptable”, a score down seven points year on year. Acceptance has roughly fallen back to where it was in 2015, the year the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. But in 2002, it was only 38%.
2023-07-01 06:27:41
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