Christians Who Refuse to Provide Services for Gays Losing Legal Battles

Religious exemptions don’t always protect individuals and businesses that run afoul of state and local laws barring discrimination against gays.

Twenty states and more than 180 local entities bar discrimination based on sexual orientation, the Washington Post reports. Such laws often carry an exemption for religious groups making hiring decisions, but they don’t grant an exemption allowing businesses to deny services to gays based on religious views, the story says. Some faith-based groups hope to expand the exemption to cover denial-of-services cases.

Some recent cases illustrate the clash between religious rights and gay rights. The newspaper lists these:

• The New Mexico Civil Rights Commission ordered a Christian photographer to pay more than $6,600 in attorney fees for refusing to photograph a gay commitment ceremony.

• The California Supreme Court ruled that a state anti-bias law bars fertility doctors from refusing to artificially inseminate a lesbian patient, despite the physicians’ religious objections.

• The online dating service eHarmony agreed to launch an online matchmaking option for gays to settle a complaint that it violated New Jersey anti-discrimination laws.

• The University of California at Hastings law school refused to recognize a Christian student group because it denies membership to anyone engaging in "unrepentant homosexual conduct," according to a San Francisco Chronicle story. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco upheld the school’s policy last month, saying it was content-neutral.