(LifeSiteNews) — The city of Louisville, Kentucky has agreed to a settlement with a Christian wedding photographer who challenged an ordinance forcing her to work at homosexual “wedding” ceremonies, under which the city must pay $800,000 in attorneys’ fees.
Chelsey Nelson, who owns a photography studio in Louisville, sued the city in 2019 over its “Fairness Ordinance,” which stated that businesses cannot deny a customer “full and equal” enjoyment of goods, services, privileges, advantages, or public accommodations on the basis of various attributes, including sexual orientation. It also forbade businesses from publishing communications suggesting such “discrimination.”
According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented her, this meant that Nelson not only had to photograph homosexual “weddings,” but that she could not publicly explain why she wanted to only photograph monogamous male-female unions. The ordinance had not yet been enforced against Nelson, but she filed the preemptive suit to protect herself against future encroachments.
Last October, Western District of Kentucky Judge Benjamin Beaton affirmed past rulings that found the city could not force Nelson to violate her religious beliefs, supported by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in a separate case that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protected a Christian web designer’s right not to produce websites for homosexual “weddings.”
On Tuesday, ADF announced Louisville’s agreement to pay the attorneys’ fees, in a settlement notice that confirmed the injunction against the ordinance will remain in effect.
“The government cannot force Americans to say things they don’t believe,” ADF Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart said. “For almost six years, Louisville officials tried to do just that by threatening to force Chelsey to promote views about marriage that violated her religious beliefs. Louisville’s threats contradicted bedrock First Amendment principles which leave decisions about what to say with the people, not the government. This settlement should teach Louisville that violating the U.S. Constitution can be expensive.”
“Because marriage is so important to me, I’m careful to photograph and blog about each of these solemn ceremonies in a way that reflects my views of marriage,” Nelson has previously explained. She added that her business is willing to serve anyone but cannot serve every wedding and also refuses heterosexual weddings with trivial themes, such as Halloween or zombies.
“My highest aim in life is to honor God, and that informs everything I do, business included,” she continued. “When I look back on my life when I’m older, I want to be able to say that I stayed true to this goal — that I ran the race and finished well.”
For years, LGBT activists have attempted to force Christian small business owners, from bakers and florists to venue providers, to provide services for homosexual “weddings,” with varying degrees of success. Despite the Supreme Court already ruling on the matter, various states and localities continue to press their luck; Cathy Miller, a Christian baker in California, appealed to the Supreme Court in August over attempts to force her to create a wedding cake for lesbians.
