New Mexico Photographers Cannot Refuse Same Sex Wedding Work - They Just Like the Cable Guy

To contact us Click HERE

It's pretty amazing that in New Mexico State Courts  the Elane Photography case is still around. I suspect with some appeals that I think will be successful it might indeed be around a while longer.

The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled that Elane Photography could be held liable for refuse too gives their services to a same sex wedding.

Volokh Conspiracy has two good posts on the case. See Wedding Photographer May Be Required (on Pain of Legal Liability) to Photograph Same-Sex Commitment Ceremonies , and Do Religious Freedom Restoration Acts Apply When Courts Enforce Civil Causes of Action?

I agree with the writer that it seems the Mexico Appeals Court is wrong headed on both accounts. I find the argument that a photographer is more like a cable operator serving  as a conduit for speech and is not a speaker itself wrong. It seems common sense the a person's artistic ability often plays a critical role in capturing the moment at events ( DITTO ON WEDDINGS ) , and does not seem akin to a person's ability to get the cable tv running.

As he notes :

 Second, the reason people pay lots of money to hire wedding photographers is precisely that photography, including commercial wedding photography, involves a substantial degree of artistic judgment and expression on the photographer’s part. Elane Huguenin doesn’t create the things she photographs, but she stages the scenes, chooses the angles and lighting, and decides how to best create an artistic representation that is beautiful, and that properly celebrates the event being photographed. That is why photography is protected by copyright, which protects only creative expression; and even if she surrenders the copyright, or never exploits it, she will still have engaged in the creative expression that is protected by copyright — and by the First Amendment .