303 Creative is a business owned by Lorie Smith (pictured above), a graphic designer and website creator in Colorado who creates or designs a variety of websites for causes she believes in, one of those being that marriage is the union between one man and one woman.
"Unfortunately, the state of Colorado has a law that would force Lorie and others like her to create custom websites and designs that violate Lorie's beliefs about marriage," says attorney Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the law firm that represented Lorie Smith.
"This is the same law that was being used against Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker, and so Lorie challenged this law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which fortunately ruled for Lorie and ruled that Colorado cannot misuse its laws and force Lorie or others like her to create expression that violates her deepest convictions," Sharp details.
Meanwhile, creative professionals are still in court or going to court over these issues. Jack Phillips, for example, has a case going to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2024 that involves his declining to make a gender transition cake.
Sharp says there are many cases still to be decided or heard in the post-303 Creative era.
"We are seeing across the country from photographers, cake artists, and others that are still being subjected to these laws that force them to speak messages, to support ideas and causes that they disagree with," says Sharp. "Fortunately, with 303 Creative, we're starting to see some good resolutions in some of those cases, but there is still work to be done."
In the meantime, Lorie Smith is allowed to do custom websites for traditional weddings.
"We did see shortly after the ruling a lot of animosity directed against her [from] people that disagreed with the decision," the attorney reports. "But the beauty of it is the First Amendment protects their right to disagree with the outcome in the case, protects their right to express different views, and that's what Lorie was fighting for."
Overall, Sharp says Smith has seen "a huge groundswell of support and encouragement for her stand and for the principals that the case ultimately upheld, which is that every American has the right to peacefully express their views without fear of government punishment."
