Emilee Carpenter. Alliance Defending Freedom.
Citing a decision from the Supreme Court that allowed a Christian web designer to legally refuse to provide services to gay people, a federal appeals court has ruled that a Christian wedding photographer who refuses to photograph same-sex couples will get another chance to argue her case before a district court in New York.
Emilee Carpenter of Elmira, New York, first sued in April 2021 and as Law&Crime reported, she alleged that the Empire State’s human rights laws violated her First Amendment right to free speech and religious expression because as a Christian she believes marriage is strictly between a man and woman.
Her case was dismissed in December by U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr., an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
In his ruling, Geraci specifically rejected Carpenter’s claim that state accommodation laws required her not just to photograph same-sex weddings but also forced her to “participate in religious exercises” since it is her practice to celebrate the wedding by following officiant instructions, singing and praying.
After her defeat, she was undeterred and Carpenter, who is represented by attorneys from the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, appealed to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were heard in September 2022. The decision was only released on July 12.
In the 56-page ruling, the court offered a split decision: while it remanded Carpenter’s case back to the district court in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the appellate judges nonetheless upheld Geraci’s decision to dismiss Carpenter’s claim that she was being discriminated against because she would be forced to sing or pray at same-sex weddings in violation of her religious beliefs.
“While Carpenter is free to choose to sing, pray, and express approval during the opposite-sex weddings that she photographs, New York’s laws cannot plausibly be construed to compel her to do the same at same-sex weddings,” the appeals court ruling states. “Carpenter has made the decision to offer her services, some of which she personally views as inherently religious, to the public. While a clergyperson who objects to gay marriage cannot be compelled to perform a wedding ceremony for a same-sex couple, that narrow exception cannot be broadened to the ‘long list of persons who provide goods and services for marriages and weddings.’”
Carpenter’s “mere presence at a same sex wedding” does not equate to “coerced participation in any religious activity,” the ruling continued.
Her photographs, however, may be different.
When the Supreme Court issued its ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, it clarified “that in highly specific factual circumstances, a public accommodations law can be ‘applied peculiarly to compel expressive activity,’ thereby violating the First Amendment.”
For Carpenter, this means that the lower court will need to decide whether her arguments about her wedding photographs being protected by her free speech rights, can stand.
“Carpenter has alleged that she exercises artistic license to create customized and original images that express her religious views about marriage,” the appellate judges ruled, noting further that she plausibly stated a “compelled speech” claim as well because human rights laws in New York obligate her to extend services to same-sex couples for their weddings.
The appeals court did not grant Carpenter’s request for a preliminary injunction. That too must go back to the district court. If her request for an injunction were granted, it would mean New York would not be able to enforce its anti-discrimination laws as Carpenter’s case snaked through the system.
