UPDATE: Judge Rules Against Florist Who Refused Service To Gay Couple

I’ve written about Barronelle Stutzman and her Richland Washington flower shop, Arlene’s Flowers, several times, the first time almost two years ago, so let’s replay the back-story first:

Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed live in Washington, and, having been together for a while, and since Washington made all of its citizens equal, they decided to get married in September 2013.

And, since during their nearly decade-long relationship they ordered special occasion flowers — birthdays, anniversaries, condolences and such — from Arlene's Flowers, they decided to use the same florist for their wedding flowers, But Arlene’s owner, and that would be Barronelle Stutzman, turned them down because, as she says:

"Rob came into the store and was talking about getting married. I told him because of my relationship with Jesus Christ that I couldn't do his wedding."

Robert Ingersoll talked with Stutzman a bit, respectfully, but he felt hurt by the rejection:

"It really hurt because it was somebody I knew. We laid awake all night Saturday. It was eating at our souls. There was never a question she'd be the one to do our flowers. She does amazing work."

Ingersoll wrote a Facebook post about their disappointment in Stutzman and Arlene's Flowers, and suddenly the story was everywhere, with people leaving comments, both positive and critical of the florist who won't do same-sex weddings.

Many pointed out that Stutzman's refusal to provide flowers for the Ingersoll-Freed wedding just might be against Washington law because, while state law exempts religious organizations from having to perform same-sex weddings, it doesn't allow the same exemptions for businesses.

All of which lead to a lawsuit when Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a consumer protection lawsuit today against Arlene's Flowers, Barronelle Stutzman, for refusing provide flowers for a same-sex wedding.

The lawsuit alleges that when Stutzman refused to provide goods or services on the basis of sexual orientation in a place of public accommodation, she was violating the state's anti-discrimination law and was, therefore, also violating laws designed to protect consumers. Since Stutzman operates a business that sells floral arrangements for opposite-sex weddings, Ferguson says she must provide that same service to same-sex couples.

This all went back and forth about The Gays and the baby Jeebus and flowers and cakes and weddings and religion and public businesses, and it is still going on because last week Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom decided that the state of Washington has the authority to bring a consumer protection lawsuit against Barronelle Stutzman for refusing to do a floral arrangement for The Gays; he also ruled that Stutzman can be held personally liable for violating the Consumer Protection Act.

The judge still has two more motions to rule on in the lawsuit, including whether the facts case show the florist violated the Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

Stutzman’s lawyers are saying she declined not because of the couple’s sexual orientation, but because of her religious views on marriage.

But it was her views on marriage of a gay couple, a couple with a different sexual orientation than, allegedly, her own, so that argument is kind of ridiculous; if she didn’t provide flowers because of her views on marriage wouldn’t that mean she wouldn’t provide flowers for straight couples, too?

Look, it boils down to this: the state attorney general is asking for a permanent injunction requiring Stutzman and her shop to comply with the consumer protection law. Simple. You sell flowers, sell flowers, and keep the Baby Jeebus out of it.

I mean, does she check the religious status of all her customers? Does she find out what all the arrangements are for before she makes them? She doesn’t think The Gays should be married because, in her tiny head the Baby Jeebus told her so, but she can’t let the Baby Jeebus tell her how to run her business.

This would have all been a non-story had she just made the flowers. Now it’ll drag on and on … and she’ll still lose.

via LGBTQ Nation

Back Story from ISBL:
Barronelle Stutzman, of Arlene's Flowers, and The Baby Jeebus, Don't Sell Flowers For Same-Sex Weddings
Barronelle Stutzman Gets Busted!

UPDATE: South Carolina Marriage ... Where We Stand Today

Where do we stand … let’s see:

Last week, in an historic advance for marriage equality, and LGBT Rights, in South Carolina, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that the state's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. Still, he also held up his ruling until noon this Thursday to give Alan Wilson, South Carolina's Asshat Attorney General who is defending the state's ban, time to appeal.

After Gergel’s ruling, Wilson filed notice that he plans to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit and then asked the appellate justices to issue an emergency stay to halt same-sex marriages in South Carolina while the appeal is pending. Wilson believes that allowing same-sex marriages would cause "irreparable harm" to the state because we won’t have that right if the appellate court overturns Gergel's decision.

See, it would hurt South Carolina if The Gays could get married because the Fourth Circuit Court could overturn Gergel’s ruling making same-sex marriage still illegal even though the Fourth Circuit Court has already ruled that marriage bans are unconstitutional.

How does Alan Wilson not see that his circular argument has absolutely no merit?

He doesn’t, but the attorneys for Charleston County Councilwoman Colleen Condon and her fiancée Nichols Bleckley, do see it, and have asked the Fourth circuit Court to reject Wilson's request and allow the weddings to begin on November 20th:

"Currently 34 states permit same-sex couples to marry, or recognize marriages legally celebrated by same-sex couples in other states. If history is any indicator, the State's claim of potential harm here is overstated, if not completely contrived."

Oh, it’s completely contrived, as is Wilson’s claim that South Carolina’s Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is like no other ban in any other state anywhere — including states where the bans have been overturned — and therefore should be allowed to let stand.

Seriously.

Malissa Burnette, lead attorney for Condon, feels very optimistic that the Fourth Circuit will uphold Gergel's ruling since it’s the same court that struck down Virginia's ban last month. And, as for Wilson’s argument that the State’s ban differs from all other bans, Burnette is quick to point out that it is nearly identical to the ban struck down in Virginia.

South Carolina is the only state covered by the 4th circuit still contesting same-sex marriages because, well, Alan Wilson. He is the only thing standing in the way of equality for gay and lesbian South Carolinians.

So, barring a higher court's intervention, the day after tomorrow gay couples across South Carolina will be able to march down to their local courthouses to apply for marriage licenses. It could be a great day, and a great sign that South Carolina is pulling its head out of the Dark Ages and joining the rest of the world in the 21st Century.

Funny Sidenote: the judge who ruled that South Carolina’s ban is unconstitutional, Richard Gergel, has previously received support from one Lindsey Graham, one of South Carolina’s biggest Same-Sex Marriage opponents. Graham, who has previously expressed support for a national constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, has yet to comment on Gergel’s ruling.

Still, it’s funny that our own ambiguously gay Senator, who says he isn’t gay and says marriage is one man and one woman, is a great supporter of the judge who ruled differently.

I imagine Miss Lindsey is clutching her pearls about now.

Gay marriages shouldstart Thursday without court intervention, attorneys argue

Gay Marriage Could Happen By Thursday In SC

UPDATE; Madelynn Taylor and Jean Mixner Will Be Buried Together

I first wrote about Madelynn Taylor — a 74-year-old US … United States … Navy veteran — back in April of this year; see post HERE.

Here’s a recap: Madelynn Taylor met and fell in love with Jean Mixner back in 1995, and they were married in California in 2008; afterwards they moved to Idaho and lived happily ever after until Jean died in 2012.

Madelynn Taylor, who had Jean cremated, wanted to be buried in Idaho’s Veterans Cemetery — she’s a veteran, remember — and she wanted to have Jean’s ashes interred with her. She contacted the cemetery to reserve one single plot for both she and her wife, but was told that they could not be buried together, not because of the space, but because, at that time, same-sex marriage was illegal, and unrecognized in Idaho.

To be clear, however, both Taylor and Mixner could be buried together in a national military cemetery — because their marriage is federally recognized — but Taylor wants to be buried in Boise where there are family close by. She even went so far as to ask a friend to hold onto her wife’s ashes, and hers, should she die before marriage became legal, and have them buried together then. And then, Barry Johnson is a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Potlatch, Idaho, became involved after he read Madelynn’s story; see that post HERE.

Barry wrote to Madelynn via The Idaho Statesman:

“I'll tell you what. I will donate the plot I earned in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to you and Jean. I am happy to give my fellow veteran that small peace of mind. And I do it to honor all the great Americans I've served with along the way - gay, straight, whatever.”

Now, it looks like he won’t have to do that; now it looks like Madelynn won’t have to have a friend old onto the ashes, because last week Idaho state officials agreed to allow Madelynn and Jean to be buried together.

The first thing Madelynn Taylor did was to head to the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to make arrangements to have both her ashes and those of her late wife interred together at the cemetery.

Simple, yes, but it took the recent victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found that Idaho’s ban on marriage equality violated the U.S. Constitution, to allow these women, this couple, the rights that every other opposite-sex married couple in this country has taken for granted forever.

“Words can’t describe how incredibly grateful I am for all the work that went into making our wishes possible. Idaho is where some of our best memories together are and it’s where I want to spend eternity with Jean.”—Madelynn Taylor

It seems such a simple request, one that, for many, is a non-issue, but it’s just another perk of equality for married same-sex couples.

Even in Idaho.

via National Center for Lesbian Rights

Update Central: Crsytal Moore, Frank Schaefer, Kristene Chapa

Earlier this week the people of Latta, South Carolina finally had their say about Mayor Earl Bullard’s firing of openly gay police chief, Crystal Moore, and they spoke loudly and clearly.

Moore was reinstated to her position and Earl Bullard, the mayor who fired her because she was gay — and because she questioned his ethics — was stripped of some of his powers. See my original post HERE.

The voters passed a referendum changing the governing structure of Latta from “mayor-strong” to “council-strong," which gives the town council the ability to rehire Moore, and while the ballots still must be certified by this Friday, the council plans to make the rehiring of Moore its first order of business.

Bullard, who has been mayor since December, started this whole mess back in April when he fired Moore after giving her seven reprimands. Moore maintained that she had done nothing wrong, and that the reprimands were the first she had received in 20 years. 

Shortly afterwards, though, a council member released a recorded phone call in which Bullard went on a homophobic tirade saying he preferred to leave his children with a raging alcoholic than with someone whose "lifestyle is questionable."

And the town, who long felt Moore was the best person, male or female, gay or straight, for the job, fought back, with hundreds of townspeople rallying for her reinstatement. Bullard denied that he fired Moore because of her sexual orientation, and there was no concrete proof — even though there was that damning phone call — that that was his motivation, but many people in Latta felt Moore's firing was personal.

Now she’s back, and the mayor is a little less powerful, all in a tiny town in, of all places, South Carolina.

UPDATE UPDATE ... via Bilerico ... 

In a desperate bid to thwart the will of the town council, Mayor Hubbard scrambled announced this morning that he's hired a new police chief before the council's vote could be certified. Stay tuned.

h/t to BloggerJoe.

via: HuffPost Gay Voices

Late last year, Frank Schaefer, a former Pennsylvania pastor was convicted of breaking church law when he officiated at the 2007 same-sex wedding ceremony of his son and his son’s partner. Schaefer’s son had asked him to perform the wedding — held not in a Methodist church but at a restaurant — and Schaefer did not publicize the wedding. The story came out in April 2013, when a member of the congregation learned of the ceremony and filed a complaint. See my original post HERE.

Now, however, a United Methodist Church appeals panel has overturned a decision to defrock Schaefer and the church has been ordered to restore his pastoral credentials. The panel called the jury’s punishment illegal under church law and said that “revoking his credentials cannot be squared with the well-established principle that our clergy can only be punished for what they have been convicted of doing in the past, not for what they may or may not do in the future.”

“I’ve devoted my life to this church, to serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me.”—Frank Schaefer, who says he will continue to work for LGBT rights “with an even stronger voice from within the United Methodist Church.”

The ruling can be appealed to the Methodist church’s highest court, and the pastor who prosecuted Schaefer, the Reverend Christopher Fisher, said he has not made a decision about an appeal.

Hopefully Fisher has seen that the times are changing, and that the church, even the Methodist Church, needs to change as well. Otherwise, when the change does come, he’ll be seen as the pastor who stood on the wrong side of equality.

via: LGBTQ Nation

One night in 2012, girlfriends Mollie Olgin [right] and Kristene Chapa [left] went to Violet Andrews Park in Portland, Texas so Olgin could show Chapa were she’d been baptized. See my original post HERE.

They encountered someone who allegedly forced them down a steep incline, tied them up, and then shot each girl in the head. It wasn’t until morning that a couple out for a walk found the two girls; Mollie Olgin had died during the night but Kristene Chapa was alive.

The gunshot initially left Chapa unable to sit or stand, with the bullet piercing the part of her brain controlling movements on her left side. Thankfully, today, she has recovered those abilities though she is still undergoing physical rehabilitation.

Better news, though, is that a suspect in the case — David Malcolm Strickland [right] — was arrested last week by US Marshals and Texas Rangers in San Antonio; his wife, Laura Kimberly, was also arrested. Strickland faces charges of capital murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated sexual assault; his wife faces charges of tampering with evidence.

“I hope that it gives them some closure knowing that this person is taken off the street. It is one day before the two-year anniversary. We've been working very hard to make sure we get him as soon as possible. A series of fortunate events has led us to this point and I'm just very happy that we could help in — at least at this point — in bringing him to justice.”— Portland Police Chief Gary Giles

Nothing will bring back Ollie Olgin, and nothing will erase the memory of what happened that night to Kristene Chapa, but now, at least, the person responsible appears to have been arrested and will stand trial.

via: NBC News