The Supreme Court ruling that has led to outbursts by Michael Imperioli and Pedro Pascal - what is it?

Supporters of the LGBTQIA+ movement in the United States today are showing their solidarity after a Supreme Court ruling has led to calls that it enables discrimination to be ignored despite the first amendment being stated as the reason for the move. On the last day of Pride Month, the Supreme Court ruled in favour 6-3 in the case of Lorie Smith, the Colorado-based web designer who refuses to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections.

As per CNN, the controversial decision was penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was joined by the five other conservative Justices on the court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The ruling represents a devastating blow to LGBTQ protections, which have in recent years been bolstered by landmark decisions at the nation’s highest court, and will alarm critics who fear the current court is setting its sights on overturning the 2015 marriage case, with the overturning of Roe v Wade cited as the diminishing rights people are being subjected to in the United States.

The landmark case in the United States' top court on Friday pitted the rights of LGBT people to seek goods and services without discrimination against free speech rights. All six conservative justices sided with the designer, while the court's three liberals dissented. The majority opinion of the court is that the First Amendment, which protects free speech, blocks Colorado from forcing the designer to create endorsing messages with which she disagrees.

Civil rights groups and scholars have warned that it would potentially open the door to other forms of discrimination, including racist, sexist and anti-religious views. The Supreme Court ruled narrowly in his favour, finding that Colorado failed to show tolerance for Ms Smith’s beliefs. The court, however, left open the question of whether states can apply public accommodation laws more generally.

“Thank you Supreme Court for allowing me to discriminate”

In an incredibly vitriolic response to the court ruling, The Sopranos actor and screenwriter Michael Imperioli was one of many to take to social media to denounce the decision made. “I’ve decided to forbid bigots and homophobes from watching The Sopranos, The White Lotus, Goodfellas or any movie or tv show I’ve been in,” Imperioli said in the caption of a post on his Instagram page Saturday.

The actor added “Thank you Supreme Court for allowing me to discriminate and exclude those who I don’t agree with and am opposed to. USA! USA!” after he posted a screenshot of a news report with a headline that read, “Supreme Court protects web designer who won’t do gay wedding websites.”

In his own quietly confident way, “The Last of Us” actor Pedro Pascal also took to Instagram, sharing a picture of the Supreme Court justices with trans and pride flags placed over those who voted in favour of the Colorado web designer.