Washington Supreme Court Upholds Ruling against Florist Who Refused to Serve Same-Sex Wedding
(Worthy News) – The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday upheld its previous ruling that a florist’s refusal to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
The florist, Barronelle Stutzman, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018, after Washington’s high court ruled that she illegally discriminated against a gay couple who wanted to purchase flowers from her shop, Arlene’s Flowers. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal, but ordered Washington’s Supreme Court to review the original decision to determine whether it was motivated by “religious animus.”
After a review, the justices of the Washington court found that they “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.” [ Source: National Review (Read More…) ]