Posted on 01/18/2016 8:43:43 AM PST by wagglebee
ALBANY, New York, January 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Farmers who host weddings in their backyard cannot refuse ceremonies where two people of the same sex are trying to get married, a New York court has ruled.
The court's decision affirmed the state's Division of Human Rights (DHR) ruling against Robert and Cynthia Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farms, after they declined to host a "wedding" for a same-sex couple. The Giffords said they would host the reception for a lesbian couple, but the ceremony itself would have to be hosted elsewhere because of their religious beliefs about marriage.
DHR found that the couple violated New York's "places of public accommodation" anti-discrimination law. If the court's decision stands, the Giffords must pay $10,000 in state fines and an additional $3,000 in damages to the lesbian couple, Jennie McCarthy and Melissa Erwin, for "mental pain and suffering."
Additionally, the Giffords – who say they have hosted a birthday party for a lesbian couple's adopted child, and employed people with same-sex attractions – will have to provide sensitivity training to their staff and prominently display a poster highlighting state anti-discrimination laws.
The suit goes back to a 2012 phone call that Cynthia answered. Erwin and McCarthy wanted to have their wedding on site, something Cynthia said couldn't happen.
In a statement issued by the New York arm of the ACLU, which took on their case, the lesbian women said, "Having your relationship judged as somehow unworthy is incredibly hurtful and disheartening and we want to ensure that other couples do not have to undergo the same treatment."
Erwin and McCarthy say it took them months to find another site to host their "wedding."
"All Americans should be free to live and work according to their beliefs, especially in our own backyards," said Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Caleb Dalton in a statement after Thursday's decision. Dalton, who defended the couple, added, "The government went after both this couple's freedom and their ability to make a living simply for adhering to their faith on their own property. The court should have rejected this unwarranted and unconstitutional government intrusion, so we will consult with our client regarding appeal."
In 2014, another attorney for the Giffords told LifeSiteNews, "The entire interaction between the complainants and the Giffords transpired during a two- to three-minute telephone conversation, which, unknown to Mrs. Gifford, was being tape-recorded," Trainor said.
"After communicating the fact that they chose not to hold same-sex marriage ceremonies at the farm because to do so would violate the Giffords' sincerely held beliefs (that God intended marriage to be between a man a woman only), Mrs. Gifford invited the couple to visit the farm to discuss handling their wedding reception, which the couple refused."
Trainor also says the state's law doesn't apply to the Giffords because their wedding and reception business is on their home property. However, Slate's Mark Stern noted in 2014 that DHR found that "[Liberty Ridge Farms] is a for profit business and directs its publicity to the general public. … LRF engages in widespread marketing to the general public through advertising at a bridal show and on the internet[.] … LRF is encouraging members of the public to lease the use of its facilities and purchase its services. Thus, there is no exclusivity and LRF is not 'distinctly private.'"
Which means that venues can now be sued for refusing to rent their space for KKK rallies, animal sacrifices and orgies.
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NY values strike again
A clear violation of the 1st amendment’s protection of freedom to peacefully assembly.
It’s their freakin’ land. So then, they can marry, but they are not allowed onto the yard/land - perhaps that can be the ruling. SCOTUS would likely - if they would take the case - rule in favor of the land owners. Private property is private property - this isn’t like the bakery case (which also was an immoral ruling). Correct me if wrong, isn’t the air above the land also property of the landowners up to a point?
I’m praying for patience as I wait for justice!!!!!
Queers are worse then any of the three options you cite.
On a farm?
Shame about all the dairy cattle and manure that was moved in the day of a ceremony.
At the time they turned it down the Supreme Court had not yet ruled. (And before any law had been written, oh, wait...)
Justice is whatever the blackrobes declare it to be. They have the tyrant’s right to judge anybody or anything.
We are on the cusp of brutal persecution.
And Republican leaders say nothing.
Yes. I'm sure that it came as an absolute shock to her that there are people who disagree with same sex marriage.
Another “New York value”.
solution: have the damn wedding. then release the hogs
I suspect that these locations will either re-write their bylaws to include some kind of religious qualifier or simply stop advertising publicly - maybe use word-of-mouth through various groups like Knights of Columbus, VFWs and such.
They continue to drive Judeo-Christian values from the public sphere (and destroy the small business economy while doing so).
By the same logic we could shut down every mosque in the US tomorrow, right?
I don’t know how SCOTUS would rule, as I don’t understand any of the underlying reasoning for this case or the bakery case. I have never understood how the power of law could be used to interfere with a private business’s decision on who to serve.
[[Shame about all the dairy cattle and manure that was moved in the day of a ceremony.]]
They’d have been arrested for a ‘hate crime’ then
Look at those New York values
[[Having your relationship judged as somehow unworthy is incredibly hurtful and disheartening]]
And yet the lesbians have absolutely NO qualms about JUDGING the values and relationship with God that the farmers have-
Typical hypocritical nonsense by the left and NY
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