Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 3, 2025 / 09:30 am

A federal court awarded nominal damages to a Christian photographer after the city government of Louisville, Kentucky, sought to enforce an anti-discrimination ordinance that could have forced her to provide photography services for same-sex civil weddings.

Judge Benjamin Beaton found that Louisville’s Fairness Ordinance contained “two provisions” that limited the expression of Christian wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson, who sought $1 in damages. The court awarded Nelson the requested damages.

According to the ruling , the ordinance prohibited “the denial of goods and services to members of protected classes,” which includes people with same-sex attraction.

The publication provision of the ordinance also prevented her “from writing

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