Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers, poses for a photo outside of her Richland, Washington, floral shop.
Posted on 12/09/2014 7:12:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A lawsuit is moving forward against a Washington State florist who refused to supply floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding ceremony based on her religious objection, which could put her at risk of serious financial loss and the loss of her business.
Baronelle Stutzman, who owns and operates Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Washington, is being sued by the Washington State attorney general's office for refusing to supply flowers for a same-sex couple's wedding ceremony. Instead, she referred the couple to another nearby florist who could supply flowers for their wedding.
The attorney general's office filed its lawsuit against Stutzman in 2013, and after the judge who was presiding over the case joined the federal bench, another judge has been appointed to the case and began hearing arguments on the case last week. Judge Alex Ekstrom is expected to set the start of the trial for sometime in the Spring.
The attorney general's office is not just suing Stutzman, it's also suing her business, a statement from the Alliance Defending Freedom indicates.
Stutzman is being defended by ADF, which is an advocacy group defending the freedom of religion. Since Stutzman is being sued personally and her business is also being sued, the ADF statement says the lawsuit has put Stutzman at serious risk to lose the business as well as her personal assets.
Although Stutzman has supplied flowers to gay couples in the past, when Robert Ingersoll came to ask for her to supply the floral arrangements for his wedding ceremony, where he would marry his partner Curt Freed, Stutzman felt obligated to turn them down.
Stutzman, who has been a florist for over 40 years, based her reasoning off of her deeply held religious belief that marriage should only be between one man and one woman.
Washington law states that no business can discriminate against a customer based on his or her sexual orientation. However, ADF senior counsel Kristen Waggoner, the lawyer assigned to Stutzman's case, holds that since there are a number of other florists willing to provide flowers for same-sex weddings, the state's prosecution seems like an attempt to get Stutzman to surrender her "livelihood and liberty."
"Plenty of florists are willing to provide flowers for same-sex ceremonies, yet the state attorney general insists on going after not only her business, but her personal assets as well," ADF senior counsel Kristen Waggoner said in a press release. "It's nothing more than a blatant attempt to strong arm Barronelle into surrendering her freedom and livelihood."
Refusing to provide services for same-sex wedding ceremonies has cost many private business owners their business, as well as a great deal of financial grief in recent years.
In August, a Christian family was fined $13,000 by the state of New York for refusing to host a same-sex wedding ceremony at their farmhouse wedding venue because they felt it violated their religious beliefs.
In November, a California couple who ran a wedding photography business, announced that they will no longer provide wedding photography service after gay activists protested against the business when a gay man posted to Facebook about how the couple declined to shoot his wedding ceremony because of their beliefs.
Much like Stutzman referred the gay couple to another florist, the California photography couple referred the gay man to another photographer. Still, that did not prevent a social backlash from spawning in the wake of their decision.
That is B./S. the homostapo has to be stopped
bump
Al GAYda
Gay activists and liberals believe in slavery.
Another case of pure love and tolerance.
The fool thought she had started her business in a Free Country
But it is all about privacy. Right? Oh wait, no, it is about state’s rights. Right? Oh wait. It is about FORCING EVERYONE ELSE TO APPROVE OR ELSE!!!!
Do we go to mosques or ask muslim businesses to provide lamb for Christian weddings, provoking? No.
Since when the State was unitarianist church imposing interfaith services?
In before the FReepers who’ll bloviate “She should have said she was out of flowers!” or “She should have given the couple paper or dead flowers!” or something. No, she was right to stand for her beliefs and tell these idiots to pound sand. All of this is going to backfire on the homos, big time.
“I’m sorry I won’t be able to accept your order, but I have a personal day planned for that time period.”
“Good luck and don’t forget to wear your galoshes.”
It is all oriented toward encouraging heterosexual spouses to cheat for gay partners, while those married into the gay life face costly divorce and punsihment if they dare apostasy from the lifestyle.
Forcing someone to enshrine and lock in a marriage with the blessings of flowers against their own consciousness is the most vile and disgusting things.
True homophobes fear criticizing homosexuals, and it is those fake liberals who smile at them but them label them gay for the rest of their lives without recourse.
Truly Democrats and the judges are despicable.
We don’t ask Muslim caterers for pork ribs or pulled pork sandwiches either
And if she loses sending her money would get confiscated.
I wonder if she votes Democrat?
We should spray paint the gay supporter addresses in mosque bathrooms.
Better point than mine indeed.
The sad part is, all of the so-called “conservatives” simply allow this process to proceed and accelerate, and there is nothing that has been, or will be, done to staunch the flow.
The libs are the problem, but us conservatives stand by and bitch about the decline but stand by idly (for the most part) and allow it to continue, as we are fat, happy and unwilling to either “rock the boat” or are unwilling to organize to put forth the required effort, which includes sacrifice (also including, possibly, the ultimate) and strife, to put a final end to the continuing degradation of our society.
It is up to us, but we do nothing but wail and moan about the situation, and that is exactly what the marxists count on!
We have nobody but ourselves to blame for this situation, IMO.
Mark of the Beast
That has been one of my arguments as well.
The Constitution actually mentions slavery and religion. Gay flowers? Not so much.
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