A federal court in Kentucky has delivered a sweeping victory to wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson, ruling that Louisville violated her constitutional rights when the city tried to force her to photograph same-sex weddings against her religious beliefs. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ordered the city to pay Nelson nominal damages and upheld a previous ruling that prevents Louisville from enforcing its anti-discrimination ordinance against the photographer.
Nelson, who owns Chelsey Nelson Photography in Louisville, Kentucky, discovered her legal troubles in 2019 when she converted her wedding photography business into a limited liability company. She learned that Louisville's Fairness Ordinance could subject her to severe civil penalties and monetary damages of up to $10,000 for refusing to provide services for same-sex wedding ceremonies, which she believed would violate her Christian convictions about marriage.
The ordinance also prohibited Nelson from writing about her Biblical views on marriage on her studio's website or publishing any indication that she wouldn't photograph same-sex weddings. "When you're a new business owner getting started and you're worried that you might have a $10,000 fine come upon you just out of nowhere at any moment, just for trying to quietly operate your business in a way that's consistent with your convictions, that obviously stifles creative energy," Nelson explained. "It made me fearful to grow my business, because the more well-known you are, the more people see what you stand for."
Nelson, who started taking photographs as a teenager and described herself as "the annoying friend in high school who always had a camera in hand," said her faith influences how she approaches her work. "I don't want to be quiet about my faith. I want to celebrate it," she stated. "It influences how I approach, how I care for my clients, the type of message and story I'm telling on a wedding day to celebrate marriage between a man and a woman."
In 2019, Nelson filed a lawsuit against Louisville with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, arguing that the city's ordinances violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and religious exercise. The District Court initially ruled in Nelson's favor in 2022, though it didn't award her any damages at that time. Louisville appealed the decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, while Nelson cross-appealed seeking monetary damages.
The case took an interesting turn in 2023 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 303 Creative v. Elenis that Colorado couldn't enforce a similar law against a Christian web designer who wanted to create wedding websites only for traditional marriages. This landmark decision seemed to guarantee Nelson's victory, but Louisville discovered that Nelson had moved to Florida due to her husband's new job and argued that her case was now moot.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to the District Court to determine whether Nelson should receive damages, despite her relocation. In last week's ruling, Judge Benjamin Beaton awarded Nelson nominal damages and emphasized that Louisville's law had burdened her speech and caused her to self-censor for ten months. "The court has no trouble finding that Nelson's speech was chilled and that the law treats such self-censorship as a complete First Amendment injury," Beaton wrote in his opinion.
The court rejected Louisville's argument that Nelson's move to Florida disqualified her case, noting that she continues to operate her business in Kentucky and her LLC remains organized under Kentucky state law. "Where Nelson lives makes no difference," Beaton stated in his ruling. The decision reinforced that Louisville cannot compel Nelson to take photographs or write blog posts celebrating a view of marriage she doesn't personally believe in.
Bryan Neihart, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom who represented Nelson, explained the significance of the nominal damages, which amounted to just $1. "Courts have typically awarded nominal damages to underscore how the government violated the law," he said. "It also signals to the government that they can't continue to restrict speech in this way because they've been required to pay some sort of remedy for that."
Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in 303 Creative, similar cases involving Christian business owners and anti-discrimination laws continue to play out across the nation. In May, a federal court in New York ruled in favor of photographer Emilee Carpenter in a similar case, and the state settled with her in July. These ongoing legal battles highlight the continuing tension between anti-discrimination laws and religious freedom protections.
For Nelson, the six-year legal journey has reinforced her faith and commitment to her principles. "Whether or not my case would have been successful or not, I am responsible for being faithful in my own life," she reflected. "I can't control other people. I can't control judges and what they decide." The victory allows Nelson to continue operating her photography business according to her religious convictions while serving clients who share her beliefs about traditional marriage.
