Link Press
A Christian florist and grandmother who declined to provide flowers for a samesex wedding because of her Christian
belief in traditional marriage has been fined $1,001 by a Washington court and will be held liable to pay the legal fees incurred by the gay couple, which could “devastate” her financially.
As previously reported by The Christian Post, 70yearold Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in
Richland, Washington, was found guilty of violating the state’s nondiscrimination law in February, after referring Rob Ingersoll and Curt Feed to another florist when they asked her to provide the floral arrangements for their wedding.
Although Stutzman sold flowers to Ingersoll for nearly a decade and maintained a positive relationship with him, when he asked her to provide flowers for his samesex wedding, she felt she could not act against her Christian conviction to serve her friend.
Afterwards, Ingersoll took to social media to voice his displeasure with Stutzman, which drew the attention of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who eventually filed charges against Stutzman, after she
refused to comply with his demands that her shop serve gay weddings.
While Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom’s Friday summary judgement orders Stutzman to pay a fine of $1,001, for now, and forces her to provide services for samesex weddings, her lawyer, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Kristen Waggoner, said that
Stutzman is still at risk of losing her retirement savings and business as she will be responsible for paying the legal fees and damages incurred by Ingersoll and Freed, who were represented by the ACLU.
The court will hold off on making a decision on how much Stutzman will have to pay in legal costs and fees until after a ruling has been made on
