Last year after vacating a ruling against a florist who refused to sell flowers for a gay wedding, the Supreme Court told the state of Washington to reconsider it’s ruling against a Christian florist in light of their Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling. But the high court in Washington upheld their previous ruling:
THE HILL – The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday upheld its previous ruling that a florist discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to sell them flowers for their wedding.
The court found in 2017 that the company, Arlene’s Flowers, had violated state anti-discrimination law by refusing the same-sex couple.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ordered the state’s justices to review whether there was “religious animus” in the decision after the high court narrowly ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple.
The Washington court found that state courts “did not act with religious animus when they ruled that the florist and her corporation violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination … by declining to sell wedding flowers to a gay couple, and they did not act with religious animus when they ruled that such discrimination is not privileged or excused by the United States Constitution or the Washington Constitution.”
The ADF strongly disagrees with this and will appeal this to the Supreme Court again:
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the conservative Christian group representing florist Barronelle Stutzman in the case, said Thursday that it will request the Supreme Court to take up the case once again.
“Barronelle serves all customers; she simply declines to celebrate or participate in sacred events that violate her deeply held beliefs,” John Bursch, the vice president of appellate advocacy at ADF, said in a statement.
“Despite that, the state of Washington has been openly hostile toward Barronelle’s religious beliefs about marriage, and now the Washington Supreme Court has given the state a pass. We look forward to taking Barronelle’s case back to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Hopefully this time the Supreme Court will make a strong ruling for the Florist which will stop these lawsuits against Christian shop owners from happening. Religious liberty should prevail.