Colorado will pay over $1.5 million as part of a settlement with a Christian business owner who won her case at the United States Supreme Court.
Last year, the court ruled that Lorie Smith of 303 Creative could not be forced by a state anti-discrimination law to make websites that go against her sincere religious beliefs.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal nonprofit that helped to represent Smith, announced Tuesday that state officials had agreed to a settlement that included paying over $1.5 million in fees.
ADF CEO and President Kristen Waggoner said in the announcement that the government cannot “force Americans to say things they don’t believe, and Colorado officials have paid and will continue to pay a high price when they violate this foundational freedom.”
“Billions of people around the world believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that men and women are biologically distinct. No government has the right to silence individuals for expressing these ideas or to punish those who decline to express different views,” stated Waggoner.
“Political and cultural winds shift, but the freedom to speak without fear of censorship is a God-given constitutionally guaranteed right, essential for a flourishing society and self-governing people.”
