Two New York women sued the Wildflower Inn for discrimination
and won. The Catholic owners had to
pay $30,000 for declining to host a wedding reception for the same-gender
couple.
Women in Vermont have the right to discriminate against men and
exclude fatherhood in their marriages.
But small business owners have no right to refuse to celebrate gender-segregation in marriage.
WCAX reports:
Two New York women and a Vermont country inn have settled a lawsuit that accused the inn of refusing to host the lesbian couple's wedding reception.
The American Civil Liberties Union says The Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and place $20,000 in a charitable trust.
Kate Linsley and Ming Linsley contacted the ACLU after Ming's mother was told last year by the Wildflower Inn's events manager that due to the innkeepers' "personal feelings," the inn did not host "gay receptions."
The women say they will use the money for legal costs and donate the rest to charity.
As part of the settlement, the Wildflower Inn agreed to no longer host wedding receptions.
In Vermont it costs $30,000 to defend pro-gender marriage.
It costs 30,000 to break the law.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the settlement, the Wildflower Inn was acting in good faith and in compliance with a 2005 decision by the Vermont Human Rights Commission that said that while no public establishment may refuse to serve a customer based on sexual orientation, the inn could advise potential customers of the owners’ Catholic beliefs.
Based on that decision, the Wildflower Inn’s stated policy was to ignore all calls and emails from same-sex couples hoping to host a wedding or reception at the inn. If confronted, their policy was to advise the couple that the owners did not believe in same-sex marriage, but would host the reception if they really wanted to.
“My understanding is that their policy was if a gay couple called or emailed that they just wouldn’t return their calls or their emails, or if for instance someone showed up … then they would have a conversation and say ‘this goes against our religious beliefs and we can’t put our hearts into it and we don’t support it,’” Kate Linsley (she changed her name when the couple married) said in an interview.
Source: http://vtdigger.org/2012/08/23/same-sex-couple-aclu-vermont-prevail-in-discrimination-lawsuit-settlement-with-wildflower-inn/
Thoughts, Fran?
So the Catholic couple have freedom of speech; they can voice their objection to celebrating a wedding for a gender-exclusive couple. But they have no right to refuse to endorse such gender-segregation in marriage? Then Vermont law is unjust. People shouldn't be forced to celebrate anti-gender unions.
DeleteYou make it sound like by hosting it they are celebrating the event. It's a misconception you tend to have. All that is required is that they abide by the anti-discrimination law, which they clearly did not.
DeleteAnd again, Fran, I ask of you: if someone had a religious reason to oppose a racially-integrated marriage (or an interfaith marriage, even), would you support their right to refuse to host a ceremony? Would you be equally outraged?
Marriage is a celebration. A wedding reception is a celebration. Forcing a business to cater a wedding reception is an attempt to force that business to endorse that celebration. In this regard, marriage is different--it is religious. A "ceremony" as you call it. As the Wildflower Inn owners previously explained, they serve people with same-sex attraction in regards to meals, etc. But marriage is different from simply feeding people. It is an endorsement of the union.
DeleteRacially integrated marriage is beautiful. I don't see any reason to oppose that. Who opposes that?
As for an interfaith religion, I can understand why a business would decline hosting a ceremony for a person or a couple who are Wiccan.
Would you force a Muslim business to host a marriage ceremony for a Wiccan couple? Or for a Jewish couple? Would you force a Jewish Holocaust survivor to host a wedding for a holocaust-denying Muslim couple? Where do you stand on freedom of religion?