To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE


SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

Victory: Judge Allows Christian Farmer, Banned from City Market for Traditional Marriage Beliefs, to Return—for Now

Fr. Mark Hodges : Sep 20, 2017  LifeSiteNews.com

"The Constitution ensures everyone the right to speak freely and to make their own decisions about what they believe." -Kate Anderson, Alliance Defending Freedom

airlift(East Lansing, MI)—[LifeSiteNews.com] A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to a Christian farmer banned from the East Lansing Farmer's Market over his religious views. (Photo: Steve and Bridget Tennes and their family/via LifeSiteNews.com)

The city, home of Michigan State University, passed a special law earlier this year specifically to oust Steve and Bridget Tennes, owners of Country Mill Farms in Charlotte.

"As the court found, East Lansing officials changed their market policy to shut out Steve because they don't like his Catholic beliefs regarding marriage," Alliance Defending Freedom's Kate Anderson, who is representing the Tennes, said.

In August 2016, Steve Tennes answered a Facebook inquiry about his 120-acre farm hosting a homosexual wedding. "Due to our religious beliefs, we do not participate in the celebration of a same-sex union," Tennes responded on Facebook.

When East Lansing officials got wind of Tennes' Facebook response, they told him not to come to their Farmer's Market because there may be protests. Tennes went anyway and there were no protests. So the city took it to the next level.

City officials changed the farmer's market contract, adding a requirement that vendors' "general business practice" obey the city's pro-homosexual ordinance against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender self-identity, and gender expression.

With the excluding addition in place, the city denied Tennes a vendor's permit in March, even though Tennes had been a fixture at the farmer's market for six years.

After passing the ordinance change, the city then accused Tennes' Country Mill of violating it. "The Country Mill has been excluded from the East Lansing Farmer's Market because the East Lansing Farmer's Market policy requires that all vendors comply with the City's Civil Rights ordinances."

Tennes sued the city in May, saying he was discriminated against because of his sincerely held religious beliefs. "True tolerance is a two-way street," Tennes said. "The government should not eradicate people of faith from the marketplace."

East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows stood his ground against the Catholic farmer, saying, "They can say whatever they want, but their corporation needs to act in a certain way to qualify to sell products at the East Lansing Farmer's Market on publicly owned land."

Tennes petitioned to be allowed back at the farmer's market while his court case proceeds. "Since June 1, we've already missed 3 1/2 months of being able to attend East Lansing Farmer's Market, where we've served everyone for the last seven years," Steve Tennes said. "Now we only have about six weeks left of the market to be able to sell."

The city tried to dismiss Tennes' lawsuit outright, but late last week District Court Judge Paul Maloney in Kalamazoo granted Tennes' request to be allowed back at the farmer's market while Tennes' lawsuit...

Continue reading here.







SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Other Recent Articles from Breaking Christian News

Give Him 15: Prayer Strategies after the 2024 Election; Going Forward

'Beautiful, Symbolic': The Bells of Notre Dame Cathedral Ring Out for First Time Since 2019 Fire

California Family Council Issues Dire Warning Over Passage of Proposition 3

Media Elites Fume Over Their Inability to Force-Feed Narratives to the American People

Putin and CCP's Xi Jinping Ready to Restore Relations with the US Under Trump's Administration

Wow! Trump Shares His Plan to Dismantle the Deep State

President-Elect Donald Trump Appoints the First Female White House Chief of Staff in History

Court Rules in Favor of CA Firefighters Who Refused COVID Shot Due to Religious Beliefs

RFK Jr. Talks Fluoride, Vaccines With MSNBC the Day after Trump's Victory

How Republicans Tackled Election Integrity Threats and Swept 9 Ballot Integrity Measures

Foreign Leaders React to Trump's Imminent Return to Presidency

Arizona and Nevada Finally Called for Trump, Giving Him 312 Electoral Votes and a CLEAN SWEEP of ALL Battleground States, Plus the Popular Vote

What Will Happen to Those Indictments Now That Trump Is President-Elect?

'Numbers are Shocking': Christian Voters Played Key Role in Defeating Kamala and Her Abortion Agenda

Abortion On the Ballot: Where Voters Protected Preborn Children, and Where They Didn't

Donald Trump Wins the 47th Presidency in Historic Landslide Victory

Reactions to President Trump's Historic Victory, from the Right and the Left

Soros-backed L.A. District Attorney Gascón Loses in Landslide

Netanyahu Congratulates Trump on 'Huge' Victory, Fires Defense Minister Gallant

Huge Blow to Gavin Newsom: Prop 36 Passes in 71-21 Landslide, as California Votes to Increase Penalties for Theft and Drug Trafficking



Search the Articles Archives

Keyword:  
Author:  
Words Posted On:  
Day Month Year



BCN Plus

Follow BCN on Twitter
Are You Praying for Our Government Leaders?
BCN Staff

Steve Shultz
Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner


Aimee Herd
Aimee Herd, Editor


BCN Plus
Are You Praying for President Trump?
 
 

All articles on this site and emails from BCN are copyrighted property of Breaking Christian News. Permission is given to link to, or share a BCN story if proper attribution is given to both the original writer and summarizer of the story. Breaking Christian News 2005-2019. All Rights Reserved.


Breaking Christian News is a division of Elijah List Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved


Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source articles linked to; do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Breaking Christian News.

editor@breakingchristiannews.com