In a stunning and unanimous judgment, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a city requiring that its contractors obey an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation when the contractors claim a religious belief to do so violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
The decision is a huge blow to LGBTQ civil rights activists, who just last year won a decision that said “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are included under a federal law’s prohibition of discrimination based on “sex.” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the June 17 decision and was joined in the judgment by all other justices.