Christian Photographer Awarded $800K in Lawsuit Over Right to Refuse Same-Sex Weddings

A Christian wedding photographer will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees by the city of Louisville, Kentucky, after a years-long case over a law requiring her to photograph same-sex weddings.

Christian wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson filed a lawsuit in 2019 challenging the city law Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance, which bars discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Nelson became aware of Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance that year and concluded that two sections of the law limited how she could operate her wedding photography business. The ordinance, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, imposed potential civil penalties and financial damages on business owners who refused to provide services for same-sex weddings.

One provision of the ordinance prohibited “the denial of goods and services to members of protected classes,” which includes same-sex couples. Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance also barred her “from writing and publishing any indication or explanation that she wouldn’t photograph same-sex weddings, or that otherwise causes someone to feel unwelcome or undesirable based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity,” according to the lawsuit.

Nelson said complying would have contradicted her Christian convictions in her wedding photography business. The law also prevented her from posting statements about her Biblical views on marriage on her photography studio’s website.

In October, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky found the city liable for infringing Nelson’s constitutional rights and ordered it to pay nominal damages.

To conclude Nelson’s lawsuit, which was backed by the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, the city of Louisville agreed to pay $800,000 in attorneys’ fees for violating her First Amendment rights.

According to a press release by Alliance Defending Freedom, Nelson’s victory builds on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis, a decision that held that government officials cannot force artists to create speech they disagree with. In civil rights litigation brought against the government, it is common for the government to pay attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart says in a statement: “This settlement should teach Louisville that violating the U.S. Constitution can be expensive.”

In a separate case last year, a federal court approved a $225,000 settlement in a lawsuit involving Christian photographer Emilee Carpenter from New York, who challenged state laws she said required her to express messages that conflicted with her religious beliefs.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.