Christian Florist Guilty of Discrimination
By Joseph DeCaro
SEATTLE (Worthy News)– A florist may lose her home, business and savings after a judge last week ruled against her failure to fill an order for a same-sex ceremony, according to Christian News.
Baronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, was sued in March 2012 by State Attorney General Bob Ferguson for not accepting the order even though she referred the customer to other florists who could.
Ferguson informed Stutzman that she must either accommodate homosexual ceremonies, or be held legally liable; he also offered Stutzman the opportunity to recant, but she refused.
The Alliance Defending Freedom legal organization argued that Ferguson had never received a complaint and filed on his own volition, but last month, Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Eckstrom ruled that Stutzman may be held liable for failing to fulfill the order.
“The message of these rulings is unmistakable: the government will bring about your personal and professional ruin if you don’t help celebrate same-sex marriage,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner. “Laws that are supposed to prohibit discrimination might sound good, but the government has begun to use these laws to hurt people—to force them to conform and to silence and punish them if they don’t violate their religious beliefs on marriage.”
Stutzman said she just wanted the freedom to live and work according to what God said about marriage without fear of retribution.
“Others have the freedom to say, or not say what they want to about marriage, and that’s all I’m asking for as well,” she said.