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…the choice to be forced to speak a government-mandated message, or stop speaking altogether.

That’s a consequence of so-called non-discrimination ordinances that purport to protect homosexuals from discrimination.

The goal is to shut down dissent against homosexuality and punish Christians who refuse to comply.

A Christian photographer filed a lawsuit against the city of Madison, Wisconsin, to avoid future problems with such an ordinance. Amy Lawson is a Christian who takes wedding photos, among other things. She also promotes marriage — actual marriage — and protecting the unborn through her business. But she could be penalized by the government her taxes support if she were to decline to provide services for a homosexual “wedding.”

According to her legal counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Lawson has won her case. A judge ruled that neither Lawson nor her business are subject to the city’s ordinance or state law that would control her artistic freedom because she doesn’t run a bricks-and-mortar store.

Although the same should apply even if she ran a physical store, protection for Christian online businesses is a victory. From ADF:

“The court’s announcement has important implications for everyone in Wisconsin who values artistic freedom. It means that government officials must allow creative professionals without storefronts anywhere in the city and state the freedom to make their own decisions about which ideas they will use their artistic expression to promote. The court found—and the city and state have now agreed—that such professionals cannot be punished under public accommodation laws for exercising their artistic freedom because those laws simply don’t apply to them. No one should be threatened with punishment for having views that the government doesn’t favor.”

Photo credit: ADF