The Kentucky Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit from a gay and transgender rights group that was refused service by a t-shirt printing company.
In 2012, Lexington’s Gay and Lesbian Services Organization attempted to order t-shirts for the Gay Pride Festival from Hands On Originals, a printing company. Owner Blaine Adamson claimed making the shirts “goes against” his conscience.
The company refused to make the “Lexington Pride Festival” shirts, prompting the group to sue Adamson for breaching Lexington’s anti-discrimination policy.
The problem for the group’s lawsuit was that Lexington’s policy was written to defend gay and transgender individuals, not activist groups. Kentucky’s Supreme Court upheld two lower court decisions and ruled the group lacked standing to sue the company.
“While this result is no doubt disappointing to many interested in this case and its potential outcome, the fact that the wrong party filed the complaint makes the discrimination analysis almost impossible to conduct, including issues related to freedom of expression and religion,” the justices said in the opinion.
The city’s policy forbids companies from denying service to an individual based on sexuality, but does not prevent companies “from engaging in viewpoint or message censorship.”
