First, There Were Cupcakes. Now There Are Wedding Websites: A New Place for LGBTQIA2S+ Discrimination

Having a wedding in the 21st century is different than it was in the 20th century. One of the most unique differences had to do with a wedding website. When I was first married in 1978, there was no such thing as the web, let alone a website or webpage for our wedding. All invitations and RSVPs were sent by paper. Perhaps a phone call came in to get an RSVP. And because same sex marriage was not a "thing" until 2015, there was no worries about being turned down for anyone printing such invitations in the 20th century. 

Zoom forward to the 21st century. There are a host of wedding websites, which we can put together by ourselves. There is Zola.com; theknot.com; withjoy.com; zazzle.com; and wix.com, to name a few. For our wedding, we used theknot.com. We designed it together, which was fun. While we sent out paper invitations and "save the date" cards to people in the mail, even the design of the cards came from the website. We used our website to keep track of the RSVPs. We told people on the website what to see and do in the Portland area; gave them a bit of our history of dating; shared pics of those involved on wedding day, and told people not to bring gifts because their presence was our present. And ours was a very Christian, Christ centered, Scripture focused sermon, kind of wedding, in which the theme throughout the day was love, life, and gratitude, with people wearing "Love is Love" buttons.

Long complicated story, short: the Supreme Court of the US--SCOTUS--is going to consider the case of Lorie Smith, who runs 303 Creative, designing websites, who doesn't want to make websites for LGBTQIA2S+ couples who are going to get married, much like cake makers who don't want to make our wedding cakes and cupcakes. Here's the thing: in the case of the cake makers, LGBTQIA2S+ couples came to the bakers to make the cake. No one has gone to Lorie Smith to make a website. We're all probably just doing it on our own. Why is she making a case? Ready? Just in case she is asked to create a website, even though, again, no one who is LGBTQIA2+ has asked her to make a website for their wedding. No one. Zilch. Zero. Who would?

As reported by Charles Russo of religionnews.com, "Under Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act, it is discriminatory and illegal to refuse services to someone based on “disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.”

In 2016, Smith sued the members of the state’s Civil Rights Commission and Colorado’s attorney general. Smith argued that being required to prepare a same-sex wedding website would violate her First Amendment rights by forcing her to speak – what lawyers refer to as “compelled speech.” After all, she is a Christian, in which her "religion" compels her to hate people who love each other.

There is more to this in terms of the nitty-gritty details of which law or language is being used or abused in this case. But it is nothing more and nothing less than legal discrimination that people are wanting to execute against LGBTQIA2S+ simply because of who we are, just like the cake makers before them. And if they can discriminate against us because of our sexual orientation, then there will be a new set of lawsuits being brought for further discrimination against us, and also against people because of the color of their skin or gender or class or disability status.

For more on this issue, go to https://religionnews.com/2022/09/23/supreme-court-to-revisit-lgbtq-rights-this-time-with-a-wedding-website-designer-not-a-baker/ 

Watch this case carefully. What is so heinous is that Ms. Smith hasn't even been asked to create a website for a same sex marriage, yet she is preventing it before it has even happened. Who would go to such a person or business that deals in hate and fear and bigotry?

In our baptismal vow, we are told to resist evil. This is evil. Resist.

May it be so.