Here we go again. A gay couple was turned down by a retirement facility in Missouri because their co-habitation policies are based on their Christian values. In other words, no gays allowed.
So instead of finding a more welcoming retirement facility in which to live, they are suing this one:
CBN NEWS – A same-sex couple is suing a retirement facility in St. Louis, Missouri over its biblically-based cohabitation policy.
Mary Walsh and Bev Nance filed a federal lawsuit last month after they were denied the opportunity to live at Friendship Village Sunset Hills in 2016.
The lesbian couple were legally married in 2009, but Friendship Village denied them service because the facility defines marriage as “the union of one man and one woman, as marriage is understood in the Bible.”
Therefore, any union outside of that definition is not allowed.
The couple filed a suit with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri claiming the faith-based facility discriminated against them on the basis of sex in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and the Missouri Human Rights Act.
Walsh and Nance are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Here’s the thing. They can’t sue based on sexual orientation discrimination because the law doesn’t prohibit that. So they are suing based on GENDER:
Neither federal nor Missouri law prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Therefore, the attorneys argue the facility discriminated against the couple based on gender, and that if either of the women were married to a man they would not have been denied housing.
The couple seeks a declaratory judgment, permanent injunctive relief, and damages resulting from the facility. The lawsuit asks the facility to abandon its biblically-based housing policy.
The board at the retirement home says they are reviewing the issue…
James S. Diel III, the vice president of the Friendship Village Services’ board of directors, said in a statement that the board is “prayerfully and thoughtfully reviewing this issue.”
“The Board of Directors of Friendship Village, guided by our Christian faith, leads a loving community that wishes only the very best for all people, including Ms. Walsh and Ms. Nance,” the statement reads.
When gays get a new legal right given to them that never existed, it infringes on the legal rights of Christians that have always existed.
So what will the courts do? I expect they will rule for the lesbian couple because we’re talking about living spaces and not wedding cakes. But living spaces are as much as business as anything else. To tell a group of people that they have to violate their faith and potentially ruin their business in order to accommodate a gay couple trying to bully their way in just isn’t right.
I hope I’m wrong about the courts, but I just have a feeling this is where it’s going to go.