Washington residents Robert Ingersoll (left) and Curt Freed were refused flowers for their wedding by a local vendor.
A Washington judge
ruled Wednesday that while a Richland-based florist had the right to her religious beliefs, those beliefs did not supersede a state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“The law is clear: If you choose to provide a service to couples of the opposite sex, you must provide the same service to same-sex couples,” [Washington Attorney General Bob] Ferguson said.
Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers, refused to provide flowers for the wedding of Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed. Ingersoll had patronized her shop for years, but his wedding is where Stutzman drew the line.
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.
Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom drew a distinction between Stutzman's religious beliefs, which are a First Amendment right, and the actions she took based on those beliefs.
“For over 135 years, the Supreme Court has held that laws may prohibit religiously motivated action, as opposed to belief,” Ekstrom wrote. “The Courts have confirmed the power of the Legislative Branch to prohibit conduct it deems discriminatory, even where the motivation for that conduct is grounded in religious belief.”
Stutzman
was represented by the anti-LGBT legal group Alliance Defending *Freedom (*except gays, no freedom for them), which countersued the couple on her behalf.
Unfortunately, ADF doesn't quite get the concept of stare decisis, and Stutzman's having some trouble with the Golden Rule. Maybe she concluded that the Biblical verse doesn't count when you decide someone's a sinner. Classy.