JUDGE RULES AGAINST CHRISTIAN FLORIST FOR REFUSING TO DECORATE HOMOSEXUAL WEDDING - The following is excerpted from “Judge tells Christian florist she is entitled to her beliefs, but not to act on them,”OneNewsNow, Feb. 19, 2015:
“A Christian florist in Washington State who refused to provide flowers to two homosexuals for their wedding violated state consumer protection and anti-discrimination law, a judge ruled Wednesday. Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom rejected arguments from the owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland that her actions were protected by her freedoms of speech and religion. While religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment, actions based on those beliefs aren't necessarily protected, he said. ‘For over 135 years, the Supreme Court has held that laws may prohibit religiously motivated action, as opposed to belief,’ Ekstrom wrote. ... Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers, sold flowers for years to customer Robert Ingersoll. She knew he was homosexual and that the flowers were for his partner, Curt Freed. After Washington State adopted homosexual marriage in 2012, Ingersoll went to the shop the following spring to ask Stutzman to do the flowers for his wedding. ... She placed her hands on his and told him she couldn't, ‘because of my relationship with Jesus Christ,’ she said in a deposition. As a Southern Baptist, she believed only in opposite-sex marriages. Ingersoll and Freed sued, as did Washington State, alleging violations of Washington’s Law Against Discrimination and Consumer Protection Act. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which represented the couple, welcomed the ruling. ... The law allows for penalties of up to $2,000 per violation, as well as legal fees. The state will likely seek those against Stutzman individually as well as her business, said Peter Lavallee, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office. Kristen Waggoner is a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom and represented Stutzman in court. She says, ‘The message from this ruling is clear: the government will bring about your personal and professional ruin if you don't help celebrate same-sex marriage.’”
