Chelsey Nelson is a wedding photographer and blogger who believes in traditional, one-man, one-woman marriage. But Louisville, Kentucky, has a "Fairness Ordinance" that requires professionals to provide services for all couples, including same-sex or homosexual couples.
With help from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Nelson and her studio filed a lawsuit in 2019 saying the law "threatened to compel her to create photographs and blogs celebrating a message about marriage" that she does not believe.
The law "prohibited Nelson from expressing her views on marriage on her studio's website," ADF added.
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky held Louisville accountable for violating Nelson's First Amendment rights. The district court confirmed its prior ruling in favor of free speech, kept the injunction protecting Nelson in effect, and awarded her nominal damages for the period of time that Louisville officials chilled her speech to vindicate her Louisville's violation of her constitutional rights.
"Free speech is for everyone," responded ADF Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart.
In 2022, the district court ruled that the First Amendment protects Nelson's freedom to create photographs and blogs promoting her religious beliefs about marriage and permanently blocked Louisville from enforcing its law against her. Louisville appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
While the case was on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 303 Creative v. Elenis, a decision for a Colorado professional that held government officials cannot force artists to create speech with which they disagree.
The 6th Circuit returned Nelson's case to the district court after the 303 Creative ruling but otherwise kept the decision in place.
303 Creative v. Elenis was also an ADF case.
"For over five years, Louisville officials said they could force Chelsey to promote views about marriage that violated her religious beliefs, but the First Amendment leaves decisions about what to say with the people, not the government," said Neihart. "The district court's decision rests on this bedrock First Amendment principle and builds on the victory in 303 Creative."
The latest decision in Nelson's case was handed down by federal Judge Benjamin Beaton, a Trump appointee.
If Louisville appeals this ruling, that will be announced later this year.
