August 25, 2011 – 11:05 am
Alan Sears, president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, in TownHall:
Wildflower Inn was voted Best Family Resort by Yankee magazine last year, and the word “family” pops up repeatedly on the website and in the Inn’s brochures. Clearly, that’s the favored clientele, although the Inn’s owners allow that their place is also ideal for romantic weekends. The Inn used to offer its facilities for weddings, too.
Not anymore. That aspect of Wildflower hospitality ended several months before a young couple filed a lawsuit against the Inn. According to the complaint, an employee refused the mother of the bride’s request to hold the wedding reception at the Inn, once she revealed that there were two brides and no groom.
... One can’t really help but wonder who the courageous ones are here – a same-sex couple who’ve managed to trap one of the most popular resorts in the state into an expensive lawsuit, at a time when homosexual behavior is surfing huge waves of legal, social, and cultural indulgence … or the Wildflower owners, who—according to the complaint—operate their family’s business in line with their personal moral convictions.
... It doesn’t take courage to ride the wave of support for same-sex ‘marriage.’ It takes courage to stand against the surging tide.
The critical point in this story is how Vermont law does not offer individuals any religious protections when it comes to questions such as this one:
On July 19, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Wildflower Inn, a 24-room facility in Vermont, for refusing to host a wedding reception for a lesbian couple from Brooklyn, N.Y. The couple is asking for $1, as an injunction against the inn’s “discriminatory practices.”
Vermont, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, also has a Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, which keeps inns, motels and hotels with five or more rooms from turning patrons away based on their sexual orientation.
... The state law contains an exemption for religious organizations — but offers no protections for religious individuals.
“No one’s focusing on the willingness of these owners to hire or rent rooms to homosexuals,” noted Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for CitizenLink. “To me, this is a case of the activists wanting to make sure no Christian gets any consideration at anytime, anywhere, for their religious beliefs.” --CitizenLink
The Associated Press adds more detail to the story we posted yesterday about Catholic innkeepers in Vermont being sued by the ACLU for refusing to rent their facilities for a wedding reception of two New York women:
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's Vermont chapter on behalf of Kate Baker and Ming Linsley, said the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville turned away the couple last fall and that at least two other same-sex couples were also refused because of the inn's owner has a "no-gay-reception policy."
... The inn's owners, Jim and Mary O'Reilly, issued a statement saying they are devout Catholics who believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.
"We have never refused rooms or dining or employment to gays or lesbians," they wrote. "Many of our guests have been same-sex couples. We welcome and treat all people with respect and dignity. We do not however, feel that we can offer our personal services wholeheartedly to celebrate the marriage between same-sex couples because it goes against everything that we as Catholics believe in."
... "This is a discrimination case," [Josh Block, a lawyer for ACLU] said. "It would be no different if you owned a store and said we don't want to sell clothes to you or give you food or any other public accommodation. The fact that it's occurring in a new context shouldn't affect the way we think about it."
NOM launched its Northeast Action Plan today with a series of radio ads airing in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The ads open with a child asking questions about same-sex marriage: "If my Dad married a man, who would be my Mom?" Listeners then hear an urgent marriage alert, asking them to contact their legislators in opposition to same-sex marriage legislation pending in the three states.
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