Denver, Colo., Jan 29, 2020 / 10:57 am
A Colorado web designer is challenging a state law she says could be enforced against her if she doesn't create material that promotes same-sex weddings.
"The government shouldn't threaten a web designer with fines to force her to publish websites that violate her beliefs," Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Jonathan Scruggs said Jan. 22.
"As Colorado itself admits, Lorie works with all people; she just doesn't promote all messages. The state must protect, not threaten, the freedom of online speakers and other artists to choose which messages to express through their own projects."
The religious freedom legal group in September 2016 filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lorie Smith, a web designer who operates the design studio 303 Creative. In September 2019 a federal district court order finalized a ruling dismissing the lawsuit, but the attorneys are appealing.