Fr. Mark Hodges
PHOENIX, Arizona, November 1, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — A county judge has ruled that Christian artists must create homosexual wedding invitations.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Karen Mullins turned down evangelicals Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, in their plea for religious freedom.
The city of Phoenix passed an LGBTQIA+ amendment in 2013 requiring business owners to accommodate homosexuals, regardless of their sincerely held beliefs. Duka and Koski, who specialize in “hand-painting, hand-lettering, and calligraphy” for events, challenged the anti-First Amendment ordinance as forcing them to violate their Christian faith.
“Artists shouldn’t be threatened with jail for disagreeing with the government,” Alliance Defending Freedom’s Jeremy Tedesco explained. “The government must allow artists the freedom to make personal decisions about what art they will create and what art they won’t create.”
A business or owner not serving homosexual events may be fined up to $2,500 and imprisoned for up to six months for each instance, according to the law.
The Brush & Nib Studio owners filed a pre-emptive legal challenge to the city law, called a “Pre-enforcement Challenge.” They explained they believe the Biblical teaching that marriage is the
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