WASHINGTON -- When it comes to creating products for same-sex weddings, the Supreme Court reasoned Monday that what's good for the baker is good for the florist.
After ruling that a Colorado baker was treated unfairly for refusing on religious grounds to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, the justices said a Washington state florist deserves another chance to challenge lower court rulings against her.
Rather than agree to hear the case of Arlene's Flowers next term or deny its owner's appeal outright, the high court sent the case back to Washington's Supreme Court to determine if Barronelle Stutzman was treated fairly by state courts.
That leaves unresolved the central dispute between proponents of gay rights and religious objectors: whether anti-discrimination laws in 22 states can require creative artists to serve same-sex weddings against their beliefs.
The court's 7-2 ruling earlier this month in the case of Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, did not resolve whether an array of same-sex marriage opponents can refuse commercial services available to opposite-sex couples.
In that case, the majority agreed that Phillips was met with "religious hostility" on the part of a state civil rights commission that had ruled against him while allowing other bakers to turn away a customer seeking cakes with anti-gay messages.
At the same time, Justice Anthony Kennedy said business owners generally cannot deny equal access to goods and services under anti-discrimination laws without creating "a community-wide stigma inconsistent with the history and dynamics of civil rights laws."
Like Phillips, Stutzman had appealed a lower court's ruling that the state's anti-discrimination law required her to serve gay and straight couples equally.
After the justices sent the baker's case back to Colorado for further review, Stutzman's lawyers sought the same treatment, contending that the state trial court "has treated Barronelle with neither tolerance nor respect."
State officials and the American Civil Liberties Union representing the gay couple opposed Stutzman's effort and urged the court to deny her appeal.
The Supreme Court has weighed in twice before on the subject of same-sex marriage. In 2013, it ruled that the federal government must recognize gay and lesbian marriages in the 12 states that had legalized them. In 2015, it extended same-sex marriage nationwide.
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