Amy Coney Barrett under pressure to recuse herself from gay rights case over Christian faith
WASHINGTON, DC: Justice Amy Coney Barrett is under pressure to withdraw from a case regarding a web designer's refusal to cater to LGBTQ clients because of her Christian faith. Former members of South Bend, Indiana-based People of Praise, a network of lay Christian communities, told The Guardian that Barrett must be removed from the 303 Creative LLC v Aubrey Elenis case. The Supreme Court will start hearing oral arguments on December 5.
New York Post reported that Barrett, a devoted Catholic, has kept her membership in the shrouded religious organization People of Praise a secret. Conservatives argue that Barrett's faith was improperly used as a weapon during her 2020 confirmation hearings when the Trump appointee assured senators that her personal religious convictions would not affect her capacity to be an impartial judge. However, her connection to the organization has once again attracted criticism.
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Maura Sullivan, a 46-year-old who was raised in a People of Praise community, told The Guardian, "I don't believe that someone in her position, who is a member of this group, could put those biases aside, especially in a decision like the one coming up." Sullivan, who identifies as bisexual, claimed that after coming out to her parents at the age of 19, they cut her off and forbade her from spending time with her younger sister alone. Since the parents left the People of Praise neighborhood, they have reconnected.
The owner and founder of a graphic design company, Lorie Smith, is suing Aubrey Elenis in the case. Smith wants to post a statement saying that she will not accept clients who want wedding website designs for same-sex couples because gay marriage goes against her religious beliefs.
The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which forbids public enterprises from discrimination on the grounds of a number of factors, including sexual orientation, will be discussed by the court to determine if it violates the First Amendment's protection of free speech. Smith asserts that she has collaborated on projects that don't go against her religious principles while working with LGBTQ clientele. Smith’s lead attorney, Kristen K Waggoner, told the Washington Examiner, "A win for Lori would not only be a win for her, it would also be a win for the LGBT graphic designer who doesn’t want to be forced to create art and promote messages that they disagree with."
However, the "survivors" who broke away from the group cited Barrett's prior membership on the board of Trinity Schools Inc, a People of Praise-affiliated organization. In 2015, Barrett became a board member. In a faculty handbook published the same year, it was stated that "blatant sexual immorality" and "homosexual acts" had "no place in the culture of Trinity Schools." The policy was in existence even before Barrett joined. The Guardian said that it apparently blocked children with same-sex parents from registering in the school network.
"The People of Praise has deeply entrenched, anti-gay values that negatively affect the lives of real people, including vulnerable youth. These values show up in the everyday policies of the People of Praise and their schools. They are policies that are way outside the mainstream, and most Americans would be disturbed by them," according to Kevin Connolly, a former member of the People of Praise, who spoke to The Guardian. Connolly, whose brother serves as the principal spokesperson for the organization, has already spoken out in public about the alleged physical abuse he experienced at the hands of his father.
According to legal experts, Barrett is unlikely to withdraw from the case. Professor of constitutional law at Case Western University Jonathan Entin told the Examiner that "Supreme Court justices have views and are connected with a lot of organizations, a lot of groups just in general, and that's not enough."