DENVER, COLORADO: A shocking update has come to light regarding the Supreme Court's case about gay rights involving web designer Lorie Smith. It has been alleged that a piece of vital evidence used in the case was fake. The Colorado web designer’s case was reportedly about her denial to design a wedding website for LGBTQIA+ customers and the apex court ruled in her favor.
For her case, Smith had mentioned a man, named only as Stewart, in her 2017 court filings. She claimed that he contacted her to make graphic designs for marriage invitations as he prepared to marry his fiance, Mike, also a man. However, in an interview with CNN, Stewart has disclosed some astonishing things.
Who is Stewart?
There is not much information available about Stewart, except he earlier used to work for CNN. About citing his name in the case, he said, “I don’t know Mike. I’ve never asked anybody to design a website for me, so it’s all very strange. I certainly didn’t contact her, and whatever the information in that request is, is fake.”
The man also shared that he had been happily married to a woman for 15 years, and being a web designer himself, “it would make zero sense to hire a web designer when I can do that for myself.”
Stewart further stated, “It is concerning that nobody connected with this case over the last six years has ever thought to call me, email me, text me to try and corroborate that communication in any way. I don’t necessarily think that would be a tipping point in this case at all, but at the very least … a case of this magnitude should be corroborated, should be fact-checked along the way.”
‘Race, gender, or sexual orientation should not be one of those’
Terming the court’s judgment “disgraceful,” Stewart said, “It does seem like the entire case has been somewhat concocted to achieve a specific outcome. As a designer, I think designers can refuse to do work for a prospective client for any number of reasons. Race, gender, or sexual orientation should not be one of those.”
Kellie Fiedorek, a senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Smith, did not pay much heed to Stewart’s claims and said that her client “doesn’t do background checks on incoming requests to determine if the person submitting is genuine. Whether Lorie received a legitimate request or whether someone lied to her is irrelevant."
Fiedorek continued, “No one should have to wait to be punished by the government to challenge an unjust law. Moreover, Lorie has received other wedding requests and has been unable to respond to any request because that put her at risk of punishment for violating Colorado’s unjust law.
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