TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — One Michigan business is under fire after it announced it will not serve some members of the LGBTQ community.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Studio 8 Hair Lab in Traverse City said that people of certain identities would not be welcome.
"If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman, please seek services at a local pet groomer," the post read. "You are not welcome at this salon. Period."
It comes following a June Supreme Court ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that said a Colorado web designer could refuse service for same-sex couples looking for wedding websites, despite the state's anti-discrimination laws.
However, the language of that ruling, one local expert said, while potentially vague, does not apply to all businesses.
"It seems that the Supreme Court said that you can only do that, if you're the business you're in has some expressive value," said Brendan Beery, a constitutional law professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
"Judging from what the Supreme Court said in the Colorado case, expressive types of good or service would be anything that requires a design," Beery said.
While the owner of Studio 8, Christine Geiger, did not respond to 13 On Your Side's request for comment on Thursday, a Facebook account under her name did publicly respond to backlash for the decision.
The comment read that she has no issues with lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, but that it's the "TQ+" with whom she draws issue.
Dependent on whatever may ultimately be determined to be the scope of the Supreme Court's decision, the state's updated anti-discrimination law that includes LGBTQ people, Beery said, may bar the salon from refusing service.
"It'll come down to do they find that, you know, providing hair salon services is expressive," Beery said. "In that case, Michigan civil rights laws would have to yield to the First Amendment. But if giving somebody a haircut is not expressive, then, yep, this kind of discrimination is barred under state law very clearly."
In a statement to 13 ON YOUR SIDE, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office confirmed they had received multiple complaints regarding Studio 8, and that the issue is "likely to be litigated."
"That said, the holding in 303 Creative has no impact on Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act when it is applied to protect against discrimination in the provision of public accommodations that do not constitute speech, let alone expressive speech," Nessel's office said. "It is not a blanket invitation to discriminate."
But what Beery sees as the Court's vague interpretation of expressive speech, he said, could continue to cause uncertainty going forward.
"So many people who provide so many services can claim that they have designed their service," Beery said. "I could claim, as a law professor, that I've designed my course."
"So, I do expect a lot of this litigation," Beery said.
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