FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a Christian business that refused to make T-shirts for a gay pride event on moral grounds.
The three-judge panel ruled 2–1 that Hands On Originals could not be forced to make products for an event its owner was morally opposed to on religious beliefs. The ruling upheld an earlier decision from the Fayette Circuit Court in favor of Hands On Originals and against an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) group and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission, according to The Christian Post.
“Nothing in the fairness ordinance prohibits [Hands On Originals], a private business, from engaging in viewpoint or message censorship,” read the panel’s decision.
“Thus, although the menu of services [Hands On Originals] provides to the public is accordingly limited and censors certain points of view, it is the same limited menu [Hands On Originals] offers to every customer and is not, therefore, prohibited by the fairness ordinance.”
In his dissent, Judge Jeff Taylor defends the shirts, saying, “There was nothing obnoxious, inflammatory, false or even pornographic that [the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization] wanted to place on their T-shirts which would justify restricting their speech under the First Amendment.”
However, because Hands On Original has refused other orders on moral grounds over the years, it has demonstrated that it strives to “treat everyone the same,” said Fayette Circuit Court Judge James D. Ishmael in 2015.
“[Hands On Original] has treated homosexual and heterosexual groups the same. … Those print orders that were refused … included shirts promoting a strip club, pens promoting a sexually explicit video and shirts containing a violence-related message.” (TAB)
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