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Kentucky Supreme Court Dismisses Case Against Company That Refused to Make Pride Shirts

It was thrown out on technical grounds.

The Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed a case against a print shop company owner who refused to make a shirt for an LGBTQ Pride event because he said it went against his religious beliefs.

Blaine Adams declined an order from Lexington’s Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO) to make t-shirts for the 2012 Lexington Pride Festival, prompting the group to file a complaint with the city’s Human Rights Commission, arguing Adams violated the city’s fairness ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

The state's high court ruled, on October 31, that the group did not have standing to bring the case, as "an ‘individual’ did not file the claim, but rather an organization did," WFPL reports.

The 11-page ruling goes on to state that the court "would have to determine whether the organization is a member of the protected class, which we find impossible to ascertain."

The ruling therefore did not determine whether the company had violated that city's fairness ordinance.

The Lexington Human Rights Commission had determined the company violated the ordinance and ordered him to print the shirts and attend diversity training, according to the Associated Press. He appealed the decision and lower courts ruled in his favor, saying the company’s actions were protected under the First Amendment. The state court of appeals determined that while the company was subject to the ordinance, nothing in it prohibits a business "from engaging in viewpoint or message censorship."

“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 state's Supreme Court wrote in its ruling.

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