New WaPo investigation shows how far the right has gone to fight LGBTQ+ rights

When the Supreme Court ruled last June in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that a private business has, in the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class,” it was on the basis of what turned out to be a manufactured conflict. The plaintiff in the suit, Lorie Smith, claimed that Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act prevented her from fulfilling her dream of creating wedding websites. However, it turns out that she didn’t have this wedding business, she had no prospective clients for this business, and the basis for the case was bogus.

The force behind the suit was the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal advocacy and training group focused on “religious liberty” protections and fighting LGBTQ+ equality. It is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The ADF also backed the plaintiffs in 2018’s Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission decision, in which the ADF tried to get the Supreme Court to say anti-gay bigotry, cloaked in the guise of religious freedom, was protected free speech. The court, not yet dominated by conservatives, wouldn’t go that far, so the ADF came back with 303 Creative.