(WENY) -- Emilee Carpenter of Emilee Carpenter Photography is fighting New York State over her rights to accept or deny services to photograph the weddings of same-sex couples. Following the June 30th SCOTUS ruling on 303 Creative V. Elenis, Carpenter is awaiting her case to be heard in the U.S District Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

"I became familiar with New York's state's law that poses some pretty serious threats for me," said Carpenter. "Operating as a creative professional where not only I could lose my business license, I could be facing a hundred thousand dollars fines, I could be facing jail time, and ultimately I'm just trying to operate my business in line with my religious convictions." 

Carpenter first filed suit in 2021, alleging that New York's anti-discrimination laws violated her First Amendment rights. Carpenter explained that religious beliefs halt her from photographing LGBTQ+ couples getting married. Carpenter is being defended by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the same organization representing the defendant in recent June 30th SCOTUS ruling for 303 Creative. The photographer told WENY News in an interview with ADF, her Christian beliefs prevent her from photographing same-sex weddings, but she has no issues working with same-sex couples on other projects. 

"It's not about who it is, it's really about the message that I'm creating. So I serve all people; that includes LGBT people, it includes anybody. It's just certain messages, and that's how I am accepting projects. Really, my faith is the lens through which I create my artwork in the same way that I only wanna [sic] celebrate certain messages about marriage," Carpenter stated. 

ADF Counsel Bryan Neihart told WENY's Max Coven, New York Law prevents Emilee from explaining her core beliefs on her business website. This is because of the potential $100,000 fines and potential jail time for violating the state's Human Rights Law.

"New York's law is so severe that it prohibits her from explaining, her editorial choice to create messages consistent with her religious beliefs about marriage," explains ADF Counsel Bryan Neihart. " Emilee designs, photographs, and writes blogs consistent with her religious beliefs that God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman. But New York's law actually prohibits her from explaining those, that those beliefs in that policy publicly. If she does, as she mentioned, the penalties are extremely severe." 

On June 30th, 2023 the Supreme Court justices 6-3 ruled on the 303 Creative vs. Elenis case, in which a website creator said Colorado's state law prevents her from creating wedding websites for same-sex couples, which goes against her held religious beliefs, and violates her First Amendment rights to free speech. In the ruling, the state of Colorado cannot force the designer to create work that "violates her values."

With the 303 Creative case decided by the highest court in the land, ADF is now preparing to submit supplemental briefs explaining why Emilee Carpenter Photography deserves the same.

While the court's ruling is seen as a victory for freedom of speech, some view the decision as creating a loophole to allow for discrimination against a protected class of people. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a June 30th conference, "We are deeply disappointed in the supreme court's decision today in 303 Creative, which takes our nation backward in the fight for equality."

In writing the court's dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "For the first time in its history, the court grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class."

One of the Twin Tiers Pride organizations added their thoughts on the recent SCOTUS ruling and what it would mean for the next generation of LGBTQ-identifying folks, saying it could create a potential slippery slope of legalized discrimination.

"When are they gonna put signs up in windows to say, you know, no LGBTQ, no cisgenders, no Republicans, no Democrats? It's gonna, it's just gonna go down, down, down," shared Dante Acquavella of Southern Finger Lakes Pride. 

Emilee Carpenter's case has been on appeal since 2022. It is currently pending in the Second Court of Appeals.