Kramer Levin Files SCOTUS Amicus Brief Supporting Non-Discrimination Laws Protecting LGBTQ Customers

Brief Filed on Behalf of Mainstream Religious Groups Supporting Colorado’s Right to Enforce Neutral Non-Discrimination Laws Protecting LGBTQ Customers of Wedding Vendors

Kramer Levin has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of mainstream faith groups in an important LGBT rights case, 303 Creative, LLC v. Elenis. The case addresses the claimed right of a website designer to refuse, on free speech grounds, to design a same-sex couple’s wedding website.  The designer has challenged the constitutionality of Colorado’s nondiscrimination statute which prohibits the designer, a business that offers its website design services to customers in the digital marketplace, from discriminating against LGBTQ customers.  Our clients included the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church, the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

The Kramer Levin brief in 303 Creative documents the growing support among mainstream U.S. religions for fair and equal treatment under the law for LGBTQ individuals and their families. The brief opposes arguments by the website designer and other amici that enforcing the nondiscrimination obligations impinges upon the designer’s free speech rights, and explains that any exemption to the law for the designer would undermine nondiscrimination laws and permit dignitary injury to same-sex couples. Contrary to the suggestion that civil rights protections for LGBTQ persons conflict with religious belief and practice, a growing number of mainstream faiths affirm same-sex couples’ relationships, including by supporting if not solemnizing their marriages. Diverse faith groups and religious observers also affirm LGBTQ persons’ place in civic life and agree that vendors in the marketplace should not discriminate against LGBTQ individuals under neutrally applicable nondiscrimination laws.

The brief echoes themes in similar briefs filed by Kramer Levin in a string of marriage equality and LGBTQ rights cases, including United States v. Windsor (2013), in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which recognized same-sex couples’ constitutional right to marry, and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Rights Commission (2018), which was decided on narrow grounds but affirmed that business owners cannot deny LGBTQ persons equal access to goods and services under neutral and generally applicable public accommodations laws.

The Kramer Levin team includes Litigation partners Roy T. Englert, Jr. and Jeffrey S. Trachtman, special counsel Tobias B. Jacoby and Jason M. Moff, associate Randy Kreider, and paralegal Denise L. Reid.

Kramer Levin has played a leading role in pro bono LGBT rights litigation for more than two decades. The firm previously submitted amicus briefs in Boy Scouts v. Dale and Lawrence v. Texas, two landmark LGBT rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court; the 2013 and 2015 marriage cases; and several intervening and subsequent cases in state and federal courts addressing marriage equality and LGBT rights. The firm also served as co-counsel in Hernandez v. Robles, a landmark case that sought equal marriage rights under the New York Constitution and helped raise awareness of the issue, culminating in the legislature updating New York law to provide marriage equality.

Read the full brief here.