The Supreme Court has ruled several times in recent years that state governments cannot impose their religious ideology on business operators and require them to abide by, and promote, those beliefs.
Those decisions came from the insistence of Colorado officials that business owners there promote the LGBT lifestyle choices or not do business in the state.
Both times, Colorado lost at the high court, including once when the state’s officials were criticized for their open “hostility” to Christianity.
But the message is getting through, as a judge hearing a case involving a New York photographer ordered to violate her Christian faith in order to do business there has issued an injunction stopping the state’s attack in its tracks.
A report at Townhall explains the development:
“U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. of the District Court for the Western District of New York granted Emilee Carpenter, the photographer, a preliminary injunction shielding her from being compelled to violate her religious beliefs.”
She runs a wedding photography business and New York. Attorney General Letitia James, who recently was accused of mortgage fraud, insisted that the state could force Carpenter to violate her faith.
I’m so thankful to get a big win yesterday for Emilee Carpenter.
Under NY law, Emilee faced up to $100,000 in fines & a year in jail should she decline to create photos & blog posts that violate her faith. Now, NY may not enforce its unjust law against her as the case proceeds. pic.twitter.com/ysI2dX9Yil
— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) May 23, 2025
The federal court confirmed that Carpenter “believes that opposite-sex marriage is a gift from God” and that she uses her company to ” to celebrate such marriages.”
Promoting the LGBT ideology, including same-sex duos, would violate her faith.
The district court said, “The Supreme Court held that a state public accommodation law may violate a business owner’s free-speech rights under the First Amendment to the extent it ‘compel[s] an individual to create speech she does not believe.’”
The judge found that her work product is an expressive product, and she creates works of art that are protected by the Constitution.
Geraci rejected state claims that the work did not include a specific message.
The injunction will be in place, protecting Carpenter from fines and other punishment, while the case moves through the courts.