Tag Archives: ZZ: Elane Photography LLC v Willock

Interlochen Public Radio: But Elk Rapids Attorney Steve Francis has been scrutinizing the local law and he says there’s a certain group of Traverse City business owners who might want to take notice.
“The secondary effect of this particular ordinance is really the restriction of Christian speech and Christian belief, and that’s what really concerns me,” Francis says . . . He volunteers as an attorney with a national group called the Alliance Defense Fund, which defended a Christian couple who ran a photography studio in New Mexico. The owners ran afoul of a similar law when they refused to photograph a civil union between two women.
“So we argued that to force this couple to take pictures of a lesbian commitment ceremony, which was against their religious beliefs, was forced speech,” he says. “The human rights commission found against this couple, fined them $6,600 and that’s being appealed in state court in New Mexico. That’s the kind of thing that really concerns me with this particular ordinance.”

“One San Francisco judge ordering it so was an arbitrary, heavy-handed act with no other basis than a demand from a powerful activist group. Unless this is overturned, the same playbook will be used to try to institutionalize group marriages, polygamy, and every other iteration of human relationships until marriage is utterly obliterated.”

GetReligion.org blogger Mollie Ziegler Hemingway and Religion Dispatches blogger Sarah Posner discuss “gay rights vs. religious liberties” at Bloggingheads.tv. Partial transcript: Posner: “Well, you know, the Alliance Defense Fund was very involved in the litigation in both of those cases you cite . . . so you could make an argument that there’s not an actual collision between the rights of these gay and lesbian couples and religion; it’s been trumped up by these legal groups who want to make a political issue out of it.”

Legatus Magazine: “‘The arguments being made by the pro-same-sex-marriage side are extreme interpretations of the Constitution that should be rejected by the court,’ said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for Alliance Defense Fund, who was part of the legal team defending Prop. 8 in court . . . In the estimation of Alan E. Sears, president, CEO and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, the challenge to Prop. 8 raises important questions, such as whether citizens have a right to govern themselves. ‘Does a society have the ability to define its own order?’ he asked. ‘The family is the first institution. It precedes all other forms of government.’”

“The Apostle Paul reminded believers in Rome that Christ and His cross would be ‘a stumbling stone and a rock of offense’ to many . . . But the hallmark of American government and culture has always been a stubborn tolerance for religious belief . . . ”

WORLD Magazine: “In New Mexico, the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission found a Christian photographer guilty of discrimination for refusing to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. Julea Ward is filing a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University after the university dismissed her from its counseling program because she would not affirm homosexual behavior. According to the Alliance Defense Fund, the right of conscience—the liberty to reject participating in abortion or supporting same-sex relationships—may be the next big religious liberty issue.”

Baptist Press: “Religious liberty suffered a setback in the U.S. but won a victory in Canada in December in two closely watched cases involving the legal tug-of-war between religious rights and ‘gay rights’ . . . Attorneys allied with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, are involved in both cases . . . ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence said in a statement.”

Examiner.com: “Word of the decision by District Judge Alan M. Malott comes from the Alliance Defense Fund, which promised an immediate appeal of the decision against the Christian photographer and her husband.”

Christian Post: Attorneys with Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund announced last week their plan to appeal the ruling, insisting that Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to “predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs.” “The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience,” commented ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. “Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy?”

Robert’s US Government Info Blog (About.com): “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a religious rights advocacy group, has appealed the decision. ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence in a press release. ‘American small business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate, nor can the government make people choose between their faith and their livelihood.’”

Catholic News Agency: “‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. ‘The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy?’”

Queerty: “The Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Huguenins, has promised to appeal. And we actually agree with ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence’s argument: ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs. The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy? American small business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate, nor can the government make people choose between their faith and their livelihood.’”

CitizenLink: “Jordan Lorence, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), said it exposes the threat such laws pose to religious liberty. ‘The court showed very little respect for that,’ he said, ‘and said that this was no different than a caterer serving food and was liable to this same-sex couple.’”

LifeSiteNews: “‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. ‘The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy? American small business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate, nor can the government make people choose between their faith and their livelihood.’”

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at the Academic Freedom File: “Also, the District Court rejected the religious liberty claims under the federal and state constitutions. Again, the court diminishes the impact of the state’s actions against the photography company, with its statements that Elane Photography is merely being asked to photograph something for a fee. There is no sense that people can be asked by their customers to do something with their businesses that violate the business owners’ beliefs. A photographer who is a vegetarian might decline to create photos for the promotional materials of a meat packing plant. If New Mexico law made that an act of discrimination, the District Court opinion says that there is no First Amendment protection. That can’t be right, and that is why we will appeal this decision to the New Mexico Court of Appeals.”

Eugene Volokh has discussed the ruling in Elane Photography LLC v. Willock in four recent posts, beginning with: Compelling Speech by Commercial Photographers, Freelance Writers, Musicians, and So On.

WorldNetDaily: “A district judge in New Mexico has affirmed a state Civil Rights Commission order that a small photography company pay $6,600 for refusing to violate the owners’ Christian beliefs by photographing a lesbian ‘ceremony,’ even though same-sex marriage isn’t legal in the state . . . ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence. ‘The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience.’”

“Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund will appeal a New Mexico judge’s decision to uphold a ruling by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission against an Albuquerque photography company . . . ”

“The decision was handed down last Friday, but the opinion wasn’t distributed until yesterday . . . ”