Creatives and LGTBQ+ rights—how to fight discrimination after the Supreme Court’s free-speech ruling

To be sure, it is important that all design workers have the right to self-advocate, establish boundaries and even turn down clients. They may reject a project on a case-by-case basis if they don’t have enough bandwidth or don’t think it is a good fit for them. However, with this decision, the court has given 303 Creative LLC—and by extension, all creative businesses—carte blanche permission to discriminate against an entire population. That is a bridge too far.

Transparency with clients

In a world where LGBTQ+ individuals and other marginalized groups may be concerned about whether a creative business will take on their project, design leaders should also be intentional about what they are communicating to current and potential clients. It is essential that we do not let this decision come to represent the creative and design field at large. We can no longer take for granted that clients will assume we will serve them. Instead, we can make it known through our hiring practices, advertising and even direct statements on our websites and client materials that these communities have our support, regardless of what the Supreme Court has said. 

Our field spans so many industries including architecture, fashion, writing, interior design and endless other related roles. We are multifaceted, comprised of people of different religions, sexual orientations, races, genders and other elements of identity. This field and our society are made better by these differences. Though the Supreme Court ruling seeks to undermine this fact, it cannot change how we choose to treat one another.