Judge fines Washington florist who refused to serve a same-sex couple

Judge fines Washington florist who refused to serve a same-sex couple

The state's attorney general sent her a letter asking her not to discriminate in the future, but she refused, prompting a lawsuit she would later lose.

A florist in Washington state who refused to provide flowers because a wedding would feature a same-sex couple was fined $1,000 on Friday.

Barronelle Stutzman, who owns Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts in Richland, Washington, has been given 60 days to pay the state after Benton County Superior Judge Alexander Ekstrom ruled that she had refused to serve Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed when they came to her to purchase wedding lowers in 2013.

Stutzman had actually sold flowers to Ingersoll for years even though she knew he was gay, but when he wanted to buy wedding flowers, she said that the marriage was against her beliefs as a Southern Baptist. Because of the refusal, the couple went with a smaller wedding than had been planned, getting married in their home with 11 guests and some flowers from a different florist, according to an Associated Press report.

The judge found that Stutzman’s refusal to give them flowers because of his sexual orientation was a violation of the state’s anti-discrimination laws in a February ruling. In addition to the fine Stutzman must now pay, everything Arlene’s Flowers sells to opposite-sex couples must be available at the same price for homosexual couples, according to the report.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson released a statement after the ruling that the fine is a reminder that the state will aggressively pursue those who ignore anti-discrimination laws, and that his “primary goal has always been to end illegal discrimination,” noting that he was “pleased that today’s ruling clearly prohibits discrimination against same-sex couples,” according to the report.

Ferguson had filed the consumer-protection lawsuit against Stutzman. He did so after sending Stutzman a letter asking her to no longer discriminate, which Stutzman refused to do, prompting the lawsuit.

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