This Christian Florist's Religious Rights on Trial at Washington State's Supreme Court

News Staff : Nov 15, 2016
CBN News

"You have to make a stand somewhere in your life on what you believe and what you don't believe. It was just a time I had to take a stand." -Barronelle Stutzman.

(Washington State)—[CBN News] The Washington State Supreme Court will hear the case today of a Christian florist who declined to provide flowers for a gay wedding. (Photo via CBN News)

A lower court judge ruled last year that Barronelle Stutzman, owner of "Arlene's Flowers" in Richland, Washington, violated an anti-discrimination law.
 
The two gay men who are suing Stutzman are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). They argue that businesses open to the public have an obligation to serve everyone. 
 
Stutzman was also sued by the state attorney general for violating consumer protection and anti-discrimination laws after they found she told her longtime gay customer Robert Ingersoll that she could not provide the flowers for his wedding. 
 
At a recent Washington, D.C., gathering, Stutzman was asked why she wouldn't take a settlement offered by Washington State.

"I wasn't offered a settlement. I was offered an ultimatum: 'Either you will do as I tell you to do; you will think the way I think; you will perform the way I think you should perform and create. And if you don't, I'm going to destroy you,'" Stutzman said.
 
Stutzman is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
 
"Americans oppose unjust laws that strong-arm citizens to create expression against their will," ADF attorney Kristen Waggoner said.