The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a Hawaii bed and breakfast owner who turned away a lesbian couple due to her Christian beliefs, thus leaving open the question of what protections are afforded public business owners who act in violation of anti-discrimination laws but in accordance with closely held religious beliefs.

Phyllis Young, owner of Aloha Bed & Breakfast, appealed the Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii’s decision, which found that Young violated Hawaii’s anti-discrimination law in denying service to Diane Cervilli and Taeko Bufford based on Catholic beliefs.

Young rents three bedrooms as a bed and breakfast in her family home. According to her petition for certiorari, Young welcomes all customers, so long as they abide by the house rules, including the rule that no romantic couples “share a bedroom unless they are a married man and woman.”

Young’s argument was largely premised on Hawaii’s “Mrs. Murphy exemption,” which “provides that if a dwelling has four or fewer rental units and the owner lives in one of those units, that home is exempt from the FHA.” According to the petition, “Mrs. Young believed, in good faith, that Hawai’i protected her right to practice her faith at home because Hawai’i’s statutory ‘Mrs. Murphy exemption’ facially protects from state interference those who rent a few rooms in their dwelling.”

The court’s rejection comes on the heels of the 2018 Colorado baker case, where the court ruled in favor of the baker, who denied service to a gay couple, but only for the reason that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility toward certain religious practices. In denying Young’s petition, the court has thus far declined to address the more broad question of whether owners of businesses open to the public may claim religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.