Louisville wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson filed a federal lawsuit to block the Fairness Ordinance LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A federal judge said the city of Louisville cannot enforce its Fairness Ordinance against a local business owner who does not want to photograph same-sex weddings. Chelsey Nelson filed a lawsuit in November 2019 , stating the city’s anti-discrimination law, designed to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, violated her constitutional rights, including freedom of religion and speech. In a ruling on Friday, Justin Walker, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, agreed with Nelson. "Louisville cannot enforce the Fairness Ordinance against Nelson without unconstitutionally ‘abridging her freedom of speech,’" he wrote. No same-sex couples have challenged Nelson, and the city of Louisville has taken no action against her, but the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative, Arizona-based advocacy group that is representing Nelson, said she filed the lawsuit as a preemptive strike. Nelson says she does not want to be forced to shoot and promote same-sex weddings The judge on Friday also wrote that his ruling was not a "license to discriminate." The ruling prohibits the city from requiring Nelson to provide her wedding photography services […]
