A lawsuit against the state of Virginia over the decision by officials there to try to force a leftist social ideology on business owners has been dismissed after the state agreed it could not do what it wanted.
The fight was over the state’s demand on wedding photographer Bob Updegrove. Officials there insisted that if he provided services for weddings between a man and a woman he also had to perform services for same-sex duos.
But, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented him, that law violated foundational rights set forth in the Constitution, including the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses.
The settlement follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis, one of multiple cases out of the state of Colorado in which authorities there demanded business operators follow the state’s adopted leftist social ideologies.
The Supreme Court said in the Colorado case that the government cannot force people to say things they don’t believe.
In that case the owner of a website company refused to create websites celebrating those same-sex ceremonies.