OAN’s Brooke Mallory
4:11 PM – Sunday, July 2, 2023
During a Sunday appearance on CNN, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that Lorie Smith, the Colorado-based Christian graphic designer who sued the state over its anti-discrimination statute, only got into the field “for the purpose of provoking a case like this.”
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Anchor Dana Bash had questioned Buttigieg about whether the Supreme Court’s case had “merit.”
“No, there isn’t, and I think it’s very revealing that there’s no evidence that this web designer was ever even approached by anyone asking for a website for a same-sex wedding,” Buttigieg said. “It appears this web designer only went into the wedding business for the purpose of provoking a case like this and in that sense, I think there is something in common with the Supreme Court ruling and what we’ve seen happening in state legislatures in the country, which is kind of a solution looking for a problem.”
“In other words, sending these kinds of things to the courts and sending these kinds of things to state legislatures for the clear purpose at chipping away at the equality and the rights that have so recently been won in the LGBTQ+ community and when you do that it’s at the expense of so many other issues that Americans are asking for relief and support on, the kinds of economic issues that President Biden was emphasizing in his Bidenomics address,” he concluded.
Buttigieg also claimed that the ruling “tells you everything you need to know about this agenda.”
“The fact that this was relief from a situation that may have never happened in the first place tells you everything you need to know about this agenda to use every instrument of government, courts, and legislatures, to claw back at these rights for people who were just trying to go about their lives and just trying to be treated equally by businesses and by the government,” he continued.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the graphic designer, who sued the state over its anti-discrimination statute, which barred companies that provide sales or other public amenities from rejecting service based on a customer’s sexual orientation.
The majority judgment was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who stated, “In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance.”
“But tolerance, not coercion, is our Nation’s answer. The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands. Because Colorado seeks to deny that promise, the judgment is reversed,” he said.
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