UPDATE: On July 27, 2023, GLAD, National Center for Lesbian Rights, American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, Human Rights Campaign, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, and National Women’s Law Center released a FAQ on the Court’s decision and its potential impact on LGBTQ+ people and nondiscrimination protections.

June 30, 2023: In a 6-3 ruling the U.S. Supreme Court issued a highly fact-specific decision authorizing a narrow exception to a state nondiscrimination law for a website developer whose work it found involves selecting customers to convey the designer’s message. While the case allows for the first time a limited First Amendment exemption from laws requiring businesses open to the public to offer the goods and services they sell without discrimination, the unusual nature of the transaction in the case suggests the ruling has virtually no application to the overwhelming majority of businesses providing goods and services to the public. Learn more.

303 Creative v. Elenis was brought on behalf of a website development business seeking an exemption from state nondiscrimination law that would allow them to deny service to same-sex couples if they offer wedding websites in the future. The petitioners are seeking a special exception to Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act which requires them, and all businesses, to provide their services equally to everyone.

On August 19, 2022, GLAD co-authored a friend-of-the-court brief with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and White & Case LLP, and joined by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the National LGBTQ Task Force. The brief argues that the broad, unbounded exemption from Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act the petitioners seek would undermine bedrock protections provided by state and federal public accommodation laws for over a century.

Learn more.