Lawyers for Barronelle Stutzman, the proprietor of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., have asked the Supreme Court to reverse a Washington State Supreme Court decision from February. They ruled that Stutzman violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination when she turned away Curt Freed and Robert Ingersoll because they are in a same-sex relationship.
Stutzman and her lawyers argue that she refused the couple service because of her Southern Baptist beliefs opposing same-sex marriage, reports the Tri-City Herald.
They also contend that arranging flowers is a form of artistic expression that should be protected under the First Amendment.
Similarly to baker Jim Phillips in the Colorado Masterpiece Cakeshop case, Stutzman hopes the high court will find that business owners, particularly those in wedding-related businesses, should be allowed to refuse to participate in or take actions seen as condoning behavior or relationships to which they have moral or religious objections.
In both Stutzman’s case and the Colorado case, courts found that Washington State and Colorado’s nondiscrimination laws did not violate the defendants’ First Amendment rights. The courts found that the state had a vested interest in ensuring that minorities, including members of the LGBTQ community, were not discriminated against.
“This case has never been about flowers for us,” Ingersoll said in a statement. “It’s about making sure that other people don’t have to go through what we went through. We hope that the Supreme Court sees what the lower courts in this case have already recognized: that business shouldn’t be able to turn someone away simply because of who they are or who they love.”
But Alliance Defending Freedom, representing Stutzman, issued a statement claiming that if the high court rules against their client, then the government will be able to “punish” others who express religious beliefs opposing homosexuality.
“Our nation has a long history of protecting the right to dissent, but simply because Barronelle disagrees with the state about marriage, the government and ACLU have put at risk everything she owns,” ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner said in a statement. “This includes not only her business, but also her family’s savings, retirement funds, and home. Not only does her case and Jack Phillips’ case involve similar issues, but both Barronelle and Jack face burdensome penalties for simply exercising their right of free expression.”
Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court has ordered a local civil registry to record the marriage of a Polish same-sex couple who wed in Germany in 2018.
The case involved JC-T, who holds both Polish and German citizenship, and MT, a Polish national. The couple married in Germany while living there under EU free-movement rules. When they later returned to Poland, local authorities refused to register their marriage, citing the constitution’s definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
The couple challenged the decision, and after exhausting their appeals in Polish courts, the case went to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The court was asked to clarify whether EU law -- including free-movement rights and the EU Charter’s ban on discrimination -- requires countries that do not allow same-sex marriage to recognize valid marriages from other member states.
A man who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts of America as a teenager for being gay -- and became the first to sue the organization over its ban on gay youth and adult leaders -- has returned 45 years later as an assistant scoutmaster.
Tim Curran, a 64-year-old assistant scoutmaster with Manhattan’s Troop 662, told People magazine he always wanted to return to scouting after his expulsion. But his four-decade career as a journalist and documentary filmmaker kept him from committing to a leadership role -- even after BSA, now rebranded as "Scouting America," lifted its ban on openly gay adult leaders in 2015.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld a lower court order blocking the state from enforcing policies that prevent transgender people from obtaining identity documents that reflect their gender identity.
In 2021, Montana lawmakers passed a law restricting transgender people from obtaining birth certificates that reflect their gender identity unless they provide a court order showing they have undergone gender confirmation surgery. Two transgender people challenged the law, and a district judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement.
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