Phoenix calligraphy business can’t discriminate against gays, court says
While a Colorado baker won his argument against being forced to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, an Arizona appeals court has dismissed a challenge to a Phoenix non-discrimination ordinance.
Handed down less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of suburban Denver’s Masterpiece Cakeshop, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled against a Christian-owned calligraphy business.
Brush & Nib sought an injunction in 2016 to block enforcement of Phoenix’s non-discrimination ordinance. The owners said as devout Christians their work was “inextricably related” to their religious beliefs.
In its opinion, the court said that while religious and philosophical objections are protected. However, it is a general rule that such objections do not allow business owners and others to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law, it said.
Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), attorneys for the shop argued that a section of the law compelled them to speak in favor of same-sex sex marriages. But the court disagreed, saying, “Although (the law) may have an incidental impact on speech, its main purpose is to prohibit discrimination, and thus (it) regulates conduct, not speech.”
