Posted on 08/24/2017 7:45:12 AM PDT by Chickensoup
he City of East Lansing has been named a defendant in a federal lawsuit alleging the city crafted a new policy to bar a local orchard owner from operating as a vendor at the city’s farmer’s market.
The lawsuit claims the city created said policy “solely because the City dislikes the farmer’s profession of his religious beliefs about marriage on Facebook.”
Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian non-profit organization with the goal of advocating for religious freedom, filed the 40-page lawsuit on behalf of Stephen Tennes, owner of The Country Mill. Tennes posted to Facebook multiple times that the orchard would not host weddings of same-sex couples.
The Country Mill had participated in the long-running East Lansing Farmer’s Market since 2010, but was denied entry in this year’s farmer’s market after the city claimed the orchard’s business practices violated East Lansing’s civil rights policy.
“Contrary to this policy and the constitutionally protected rights of all couples, The Country Mill has advertised that their business practice is to prohibit same-sex couples from holding weddings at their orchard in Charlotte, MI,” the city statement read. “Their business practices violate the City of East Lansing’s long-standing ordinance that protects sexual orientation as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling that grants the right for same-sex couples to be married.”
Tennes, a Roman Catholic, shared his belief that marriage is solely between a man and a woman in a Facebook post on Aug. 24, 2016, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit further alleges the city, upon finding the post, immediately took action to remove The Country Mill from the Farmer’s Market.
“First, City officials pressured Country Mill to leave the Market, telling the Tennes family that because of their statement of their religious beliefs (1) the City did not want them at the Market that coming Sunday and (2) people would protest and disrupt the Market if Country Mill continued to participate in it,” the lawsuit alleges.
“When Country Mill decided to attend the remaining two months of the Farmer’s Market season, which they did without any protests or disruptions, East Lansing stopped asking Country Mill to leave and started work to ban Country Mill by City Policy.”
East Lansing City Manager George Lahanas confirmed the city had asked Country Mill to voluntarily leave the market place after looking into the post.
“They said they still wanted to come and then they came back (and) said we will not do any weddings at all, so therefore there would be no discrimination because we’re not doing weddings,” Lahanas said. “We said that was satisfactory and they were free to come to the farmer’s market.”
However, The Country Mill backtracked on its wedding policy as Tennes reopened the orchard to hosting marriages, though only for opposite-sex couples, according to a December, 12, 2016 Facebook post.
“The Country Mill family and its staff have and will continue to participate in hosting the ceremonies held at our orchard. It remains our deeply held religious belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and Country Mill has the First Amendment Right to express and act upon its beliefs,” the post read.
The lawsuit alleges further that East Lansing did not invite the Country Mill back to the 2017 Farmer’s Market, forcing them to apply to be a vendor again.
“This year, in I think January, they applied and they put back on their website that they would be excluding same-sex couples again from marriage, but still opening it up for marriage for opposite-sex couples,” Lahanas said.
The new policy, Lahanas said, made sure vendors could not be discriminatory in business practices overall. If a business denied someone upon race or religion in one town, it could not come to East Lansing and say it would not discriminate in the city.
“We’re going to say, well no, it’s your business practice, whether it's here or somewhere else. Our rule is we’re going to exclude you from our farmer’s market,” Lahanas said.
“They say it’s because of their Facebook post and their free speech, that’s nonsense… it’s because of their business practice of excluding people, (that’s) the issue. They can have any belief they want, but if they’re excluding people, that’s the difference.”
Lahanas further said the city had yet to be served. Therefore, no timetable exists regarding the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the city created said policy “solely because the City dislikes the farmer’s profession of his religious beliefs about marriage on Facebook.”
Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian non-profit organization with the goal of advocating for religious freedom, filed the 40-page lawsuit on behalf of Stephen Tennes, owner of The Country Mill. Tennes posted to Facebook multiple times that the orchard would not host weddings of same-sex couples.
The Country Mill had participated in the long-running East Lansing Farmer’s Market since 2010, but was denied entry in this year’s farmer’s market after the city claimed the orchard’s business practices violated East Lansing’s civil rights policy.
“Contrary to this policy and the constitutionally protected rights of all couples, The Country Mill has advertised that their business practice is to prohibit same-sex couples from holding weddings at their orchard in Charlotte, MI,” the city statement read. “Their business practices violate the City of East Lansing’s long-standing ordinance that protects sexual orientation as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling that grants the right for same-sex couples to be married.”
Tennes, a Roman Catholic, shared his belief that marriage is solely between a man and a woman in a Facebook post on Aug. 24, 2016, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit further alleges the city, upon finding the post, immediately took action to remove The Country Mill from the Farmer’s Market.
“First, City officials pressured Country Mill to leave the Market, telling the Tennes family that because of their statement of their religious beliefs (1) the City did not want them at the Market that coming Sunday and (2) people would protest and disrupt the Market if Country Mill continued to participate in it,” the lawsuit alleges.
“When Country Mill decided to attend the remaining two months of the Farmer’s Market season, which they did without any protests or disruptions, East Lansing stopped asking Country Mill to leave and started work to ban Country Mill by City Policy.”
East Lansing City Manager George Lahanas confirmed the city had asked Country Mill to voluntarily leave the market place after looking into the post.
“They said they still wanted to come and then they came back (and) said we will not do any weddings at all, so therefore there would be no discrimination because we’re not doing weddings,” Lahanas said. “We said that was satisfactory and they were free to come to the farmer’s market.”
However, The Country Mill backtracked on its wedding policy as Tennes reopened the orchard to hosting marriages, though only for opposite-sex couples, according to a December, 12, 2016 Facebook post.
“The Country Mill family and its staff have and will continue to participate in hosting the ceremonies held at our orchard. It remains our deeply held religious belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and Country Mill has the First Amendment Right to express and act upon its beliefs,” the post read.
The lawsuit alleges further that East Lansing did not invite the Country Mill back to the 2017 Farmer’s Market, forcing them to apply to be a vendor again.
“This year, in I think January, they applied and they put back on their website that they would be excluding same-sex couples again from marriage, but still opening it up for marriage for opposite-sex couples,” Lahanas said.
The new policy, Lahanas said, made sure vendors could not be discriminatory in business practices overall. If a business denied someone upon race or religion in one town, it could not come to East Lansing and say it would not discriminate in the city.
“We’re going to say, well no, it’s your business practice, whether it's here or somewhere else. Our rule is we’re going to exclude you from our farmer’s market,” Lahanas said.
“They say it’s because of their Facebook post and their free speech, that’s nonsense… it’s because of their business practice of excluding people, (that’s) the issue. They can have any belief they want, but if they’re excluding people, that’s the difference.”
Lahanas further said the city had yet to be served. Therefore, no timetable exists regarding the lawsuit.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/1/country-mill-farms-ousted-from-mich-farmers-market/
https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/an-orchard-wedding-at-the-country-mill-charlotte-mi-372018
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2016/08/couple_discourages_visits_to_c.html
“First, City officials pressured Country Mill to leave the Market, telling the Tennes family that because of their statement of their religious beliefs (1) the City did not want them at the Market that coming Sunday and (2) people would protest and disrupt the Market if Country Mill continued to participate in it,” the lawsuit alleges.
“When Country Mill decided to attend the remaining two months of the Farmer’s Market season, which they did without any protests or disruptions, East Lansing stopped asking Country Mill to leave and started work to ban Country Mill by City Policy.”
All the conservatives in the area let themselves get run over
This happens time and time again.
Yeah...well I’m no legal scholar, for sure.
But it seems to me the City can’t make that decision because then they are excluding based on religious belief.
You can’t on the one hand say “you can believe what you want” and then deny them their livlihood at a venue they pay for via taxes and rent because of those beliefs.
It would be totally different if they tried to say they would not sell to homosexuals. But they did not. The do however refuse to condone their “marriages” by renting their facilities to them. THEIR facilities, not East Lansing’s.
Hope they win...
Free exercise means walking the walk. It means the way you live your life, including your family life, your civic life, and your business life.
”14th Amendment, Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [emphasis added]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Noting that the states have never amended the Constitution to expressly protect so-called LGBT “rights,” pro-LGBT officials consequently violate Section 1, in this case by using politically correct LGBT “rights” to abridge constitutionally enumerated rights, 1st Amendment-protected religious expression and free speech in such cases.
By promoting politically correct LGBT “rights,” state officials are also wrongly effectively establishing misguided, bullied LGBT people as a privileged / protected class imo, the Founding States making the Constitution’s Clause 1 of Section 10 of Article I to prohibit the states from doing so.
Article I, Section 10, Clause 1: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility [emphasis added].
But what’s worse than the states abridging constitutionally enumerated rights is this imo. Even though Congress has the 14th Amendment power to strengthen constitutionally enumerated rights to protect citizens from the states, we still have a corrupt Congress left over from the lawless Obama administration that wrongly remained silent while the states abridged the enumerated rights of citizens.
But we have a remedy for Congress.
Drain the swamp sewer! Drain the sewer!
Remember in November 2018 !
Since corrupt Congress is the biggest part of the sewer (imo) that Trump wants to drain, it is actually up to patriots to drain the sewer in the 2018 elections, patriots supporting Trump by electing as many new members of Congress as they can who will support Trump.
In the meanwhile, patriots need to make sure that there are plenty of Trump-supporting candidates on the primary ballots.
Patriots need to qualify candidates by asking them why the Founding States made the Constitution’s Section 8 of Article I; to limit (cripple) the federal government’s powers.
Patriots also need to make sure that candidates are knowledgeable of the Supreme Court's clarifications of the federal government’s limited powers listed here.
“Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added]." —Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
Also, as previously mentioned, unlike incumbent members of Congress who wrongly remained silent while misguided state officials abridged the constitutionally enumerated rights of citizens during the lawless Obama Administration, patriots need to make sure that candidates on the 2018 primary ballots commit to the following.
Candidates need to commit to making and enforcing 14th Amendment-related laws to prosecute misguided state officials who use state powers to abridge constitutionally enumerated protections, 1st Amendment-protected religious expression and free speech for example, such actions prohibited by Section 1 of the 14th Amendment shown above.
Again, drain the sewer! Drain the sewer!
The civil war is here.
East Lansing is the home of the World's largest land grant college, Michigan State University. I was born in Lansing and since I can remember East Lansing has been a leftist dump.
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