New Mexico accused of violating 'free exercise' of religion

The state of New Mexico is being accused of violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of "free exercise" of religion because of a ruling that a Christian husband-and-wife photography team must pay a $6,600 penalty for refusing to shoot pictures at a same-sex "commitment" ceremony.

The accusation comes in legal action brought by the Alliance Defense Fund over the penalty announced for Elane Photography.

"Christians in the marketplace should not be penalized for abiding by their beliefs any more than anyone else should," Jordan Lorence, a senior counsel for the organization, said. "The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling people to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. The commission's decision demonstrates stunning disregard for our client's First Amendment rights."

The "commission" to which he was referring was the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission, which targeted Elane Photography with its state authority and ordered the penalty of $6,600 after a one-day "trial" over the beliefs of the Christian-owned business.

The commission ruled Jon and Elaine Huguenin violated state anti-discrimination requirements when they declined to take the same-sex pictures, even though neither marriage nor civil unions are legal for members of the same sex in New Mexico.

The ADF said its legal action appeals to the 2nd Judicial District Court, County of Bernalillo, to correct the outcome of the case.

"Elaine Huguenin declined [the job] because her and her husband's Christian beliefs are in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony," the ADF said.

"The government cannot make people choose between their faith and their livelihood," said Lorence. "Could the government force a vegetarian videographer to create a commercial for the new butcher shop in town? American business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate."

Same-sex ceremonies are not the only issues the photographers choose not to take part in.

"Because of their beliefs, Jon and Elaine Huguenin agree that Elane Photography will not take photographs of, for example, people without clothes, or photographs that present abortion or horror movies or pornography in a favorable light," the legal action said. "Jon and Elaine Huguenin have strong moral and philosophical beliefs that marriage should be defined as one man and one woman. … Additionally, Jon and Elaine Huguenin are Christians. They believe the teachings of the Bible. They believe the Bible's teaching that God created marriage as one man and one woman and that marriage of one man and one woman reflects the relationship of Christ loving the Church."

"Therefore, [they] will not take photographs of situations that will promote or depict favorably such practices as unmarried cohabitation, polygamy, polyamory, no-fault divorce or same-sex 'marriage,' regardless of the sexual orientation of the people in the photographs," the brief continues.

The complaint came from Vanessa Willock and Misti Collinsworth, who had a "commitment ceremony" in Taos on Sept. 25, 2007.

But the penalty should be reversed because the order and fine violate their guaranteed free exercise of religion as well as "the plaintiff's right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article II, section 17 of the New Mexico Constitution," the challenge said.

"This [law] is so loaded. It's written in an open-ended fashion that anybody can take just about any part of it and grow it into a huge monstrosity," state Rep. Kevin Lundberg, who argued against SB200 when it was in the Colorado legislature, told WND. "It was written with intentional [vagueness]."

He spoke with WND after a news conference this week at which a number of groups and organizations announced plans to challenge the law. Among those promising to dispute the new limitations on speech and actions was Liberty Counsel, which is reviewing the situation now in preparation for a legal challenge.

"Section 8 of Senate Bill 200 is a wide open door for any judge to censor anything that condemns homosexuality, including Scripture," Lundberg said at the news conference. Section 8 is headlined, "Publishing of discriminative matter forbidden."

"I do believe that the Bible is banned, under the plain language of this new statute," said Steve Crampton, general counsel of Liberty Counsel.