The following comes from a March 3 Baptist Press article by Diana Chandler
RICHLAND, Washington — A Southern Baptist florist does not regret her nine-year friendship with a homosexual man who won a lawsuit against her after she refused to design floral arrangements for his gay wedding, she told Baptist Press.
“If Rob [Robert Ingersoll] walked in the store today, I would hug him and catch up on his life,” Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., told BP. “The same faith that tells me that I can’t be a part of Rob’s wedding is the same faith that tells me to love him as Christ does.
“Christ loves us all regardless, and it’s not my place to judge him, or to judge anybody. It’s my place to be an example of Christ,” she said. “Do they see Christ in what I do, and how I treat them?”
Stutzman, a 70-year-old member of Richland Baptist Church in Richland, had provided floral arrangements for Ingersoll and most recently his friend Curt Freed on numerous occasions. But she refused in March 2013 to use her gifts and talents to design flowers for their wedding.
Stutzman was found guilty Feb. 18 in Benton County Superior Court of violating the couple’s U.S. and state civil rights, and was held personally liable for the couple’s damages and attorney fees, putting her at risk of losing her business and personal holdings. (See earlier Baptist Press story.) Backed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Stutzman is appealing the case, and is prepared to take it to the nation’s highest court.
The issue isn’t about Ingersoll being gay, said Stutzman, who according to court documents has employed openly gay individuals through her business.
“The issue is marriage is between a man and a woman, according to my faith,” she told BP. “I just think of myself as a follower of Christ and the Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, and the Bible is my authority.”
What a wonderful Christian woman.
Thanks for posting this good example.
Gee, if my “friend” sued me for being true to my beliefs, that would be an ex-friend. This homofascist persecution is coming from many quarters folks, including from “friends”.
This is religious intolerance coming from those who preport to be victims of intolerance. Don’t be afraid to point out the hypocrisy, and yes, expect lots of criticism. Oh well.
” point out the hypocrisy”. OK. Here it is: Why should anyone have to tolerate intolerance, particularly religiously motivated intolerance?
Catholicism, the religion this site addresses, teaches you to be intolerant of SIN. You are to avoid it and repent of it, and stay away from the near occasion of it. Don’t over think it.
Please disregard the commentary of “YFC” below. Clearly this soul stalks this site to defend homosexuality, always wrapping the arguments in appeals to mercy and tolerance, ignoring the justice for which some sins cry to heaven.
peter, why don’t homosexuals choose to support homosexual businesses instead? Why would they discriminate against their own ?
Christians do not TOLERATE, evil actions – mortal sin.
So know that, and you’ll just have to get over it. It is not going to change.
PETE, why don’t blacks choose to support black businesses instead? Why would they discriminate against their own?
Treating people with less dignity than they deserve as human beings IS MORTAL SIN.
YFC, people do not have a choice of their skin color.
People do have a choice over their moral conduct.
You have been told this before. Memory failing; or merely supporting sodomy any way you can ?
PETE, people don’t choose their sexual orientation.
YFC, people CHOOSE their BEHAVIOR.
They can choose to be moral or immoral.
They can choose to have sex or not to have sex.
Sexual orientation has nothing to do with anything – except who people are attracted to.
1) Do you really expect anyone to believe that any private sexual act is a requirement to live,or breathe?
2) Do you understand the difference between ACTING upon temptation, and NOT Acting upon a temptation?
Sodomites (as well as everyone else) can do as they please within their own homes.
Government and society have no obligation to approve, condone, or legalize your immoral activities.
What is your real problem ?
It seems that you want to FORCE everyone else to accept your immoral activity, and their own beliefs – be damned.
And yes, people do choose whom they have sex with.
As far as the Government – the 1st Amendment to the Constitution is very clear –
Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
So here’s the deal on the notion that people who sin should be discriminated against
1) We all sin, every one of us. Where does it say that only non-sinners are entitled to florist’s services, employment, or any other public accommodation?
2) Sexual orientation is not a sin. It is true that people choose to have sex and that that sex might be sinful in certain cases. People are not engaging in homosexual sex at the wedding or while the flowers are being prepared or delivered.
3) Other things that are choices are protected by the same laws are things like “religion”. A florist may not deny a person service because they are catholic. You choose whether or not to be catholic, yet the law is in place to ensure that anti-catholics do not discriminate against you.
4) You choose every day to work with people you may not agree with. This is how society operates smoothly, especially one like ours which is drawn from every culture, continent, and creed.
I live in an area where Catholics are discriminated against. We don’t sue. We try to understand and love. We only need one florist to make the Church flowers. We can pick them up if they won’t come to the Church. We only need one funeral home and one cemetery that will service us when we die which we have. We are grateful to those who serve us, but we don’t make trouble for those who don’t.
“peter” and “Your Fellow Catholic”: Here’s a question — why not try another religion? The Episcopalians — who simply adore homosexuals — will welcome you.
The Catholic Faith respects homosexuals, but rejects homosexual sex. If you cannot deal with this, then leave. Francis is powerless to change this doctrine, and he knows it. You can object all you wish, but this will not change.
“YFC” it is true that sodomites are treated with less dignity than normal people when they have sex with their own gender. Why? It is against the Law of Nature and against God’s law. This is deeply regretted if objectionable to you, but your man-man sex relationships will never be anything else but ugly and disgusting and an abomination to almost everyone. And, a mortal sin, too boot!
Enjoy the notoriety. But, seek out a priest and go to confession, and remain chaste. It is the only way. Do not listen to others in the Church who say something differently, from the Pope on down.
Oh, by the way, this woman is a great Christian. She does not judge the man, leaving that to Christ, but obviously objects to this sinful behavior. Good example there, particularly how her friend turned on her, perhaps necessitating bankruptcy. This is how homosexuals see the world (which will never accept them): they say, I am going to bring you down, regardless of fairness, unless you treat me as normal (and you better be smiling all the time at my sodomy). Well, you know the phrase, . . . when pigs fly . . .
The scales are tipped too far. A business owner should
be able to refuse to do business with anyone they choose.
Let the public decide if they want to patronize them knowing
their past choices. Make them post a sign, perhaps, but don’t
tell them with whom they must do business.
Next some 16 year old will sue a bar for age discrimination ?
Common sense isn’t !!!
Right, Ted. So I guess Woolworth’s shouldn’t have to allow black people to sit at their lunch counter since, according to you, “a business owner should be able to refuse to do business with anyone they choose”. Next thing you know we’ll have laws that require businesses to serve all people regardless of their race, sex, or religion!
This is not the issue with this florist.
She hires gay people, she makes flower arrangements for anybody but just not for same-sex weddings (which may or may not be gay-they don’t have to be).
Except that it is. As the Supreme Court has already held, you cannot discriminate against a person’s wedding and not at the same time discriminate against the people themselves. Most states actually have non-discrimination on the basis of marital status laws on the books. Their right to be wedded is intrinsic to their person, according to longstanding Constitutional law. She may earnestly believe that she is not discriminating illegally, but in reality she is. I have written on CCD before that I think people like her deserve a level of compassion in law that would encourage her to learn how her actions are illegal. Graduated fines and such, coupled with education, so that she can learn the limits of law without putting her out of business on the first offense.
Anonymous, where in the article does it say that she hires gay people? If I missed that, please show me or point to external sources to back up your claim.
Also. do you honestly believe that people should be allowed under law to discriminate against people on the basis of marital status? Should a florist be allowed to deny flowers for single people who intend to give them to a date? Should they be allowed to deny flowers for a white person who is married to a black person because in their religion mixed race couples may not marry?
Where does discrimination end?
YFC, it is in the article-2nd paragraph from the bottom.
It also says that she has made arrangements for this customer before and she will make them for him again.
She just declined to make them for this event because of her belief that the Bible says (not her personal feelings) that marriage is one man and one woman.
She is not discriminating against people because of marital status because she will make flower arrangements for them still. It was the event that she declined.
Why should a person be forced to deny who they are?
Good bless her and Godspeed to her case.
True Christian Charity, God bless her.
True Christian charity would be giving tha Homosexual full truth about his mortal sin and encouraging him to live a chaste life of grace. This was the Prot version. I have lived in the darkness of mortal sin. Those who kept silent because of this same phony charity would have hlped sent me to HELL. But thank God Almighty for the soul with true Charity…which flowed from their love of God…that never stopped pointing out that I was in grave danger of eternal death. THAT was the person who turned me around.
How sad. How unfortunate. Society asks us to be tolerant. The very people who we are asked to tolerate are then so very intolerant of us! Seems it is a one way street. I wonder what would happen if the woman offered to make the floral arrangements and announced that all the profits from the transaction would be donated to a charity or cause dedicated to preserving “One Man, One Woman” as a marriage covenant?
So, OneoftheSheep, let’s think about this for a moment.
1) You want gay people to be tolerant of your intolerance. So, shouldn’t you be tolerant of people who are intolerant of your intolerance?
2) Even better, wouldn’t it just be easier (not to mention more Christian) to tolerate, even celebrate, the people all around you and see them as Children of God?
3) I love the idea that the florist should announce that all proceeds from arranging flowers for those she wants to judge will be donated to organizations that work for intolerance. That will do wonderful things for her business, I’m sure. It complies with the law. And, it saves people in advance from wondering whether she will apply her own brand of hell’s judgement upon them before they even set foot in her business. The marketing opportunities for her are endless!
YFC, we do not care what gay people do, as long as it does not effect us in any remote way.
All those with Same Sex Attraction and choose to follow the teachings of the Church – meaning no sodomy – are welcome.
I do hope those perpetrating homosexual acts, repent before their deaths so they won’t end up in HELL.
But that is their own free will choice.
Adults can do whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes.
Keep your sodomy inside your own homes, and do not impact the rest of society in any way.
If this lady were black and two Ku Klux Klan men asked her to provide flowers for their “wedding”-(yes, probably implausible)- would she be obliged to oblige them? This is religious persecution and is just the beginning. Every time I go to Mass I wonder how much longer our priests will be here to offer Mass for us? Will we have to sneak off to “underground” churches and provide “hiding holes” for those who escape the authorities? They are first on the radar to imprison. We lay people are next. Look up the history of Mexico under Calles-what happened to the clergy AND the laity. We will be there sooner or later. This has nothing to do with “gay rights” but is an out-and-out attempt to shut the voice of reason and natural law. We must treasure every Mass we can attend because we may be looking at a future without it.
anniem I’m actually not sure what your point is but let me at least, be clear: THE KKK IS AS ANTI GAY AS ANYBODY! If you have a thought, and I honestly hope that you are not among them, that gay people who want to get married or live their lives without discrimination should have to hide in holes or resort to sitting in the back of the bus, or not being served at certain “Christian” establishments, the you, my friend, are the KKK.
Barronnelle Stutzman God bless you for standing up for what is right. In this life, we will always be persecuted for doing what is right. Life is not always going to be easy. We will have good days and bad days. But in actuality the bad days only seem bad but they are not, they are just stepping stones to help us climb up that ladder in virtues.
This is so EVIL!! In God’s eyes– this woman is a HOLY MARTYR, and a true HEROINE– for Christ!!
God bless this wonderful woman! In God’s eyes, she is a HOLY MARTYR, and a TRUE HEROINE– for Christ! Our country, and its FALSE, SINFUL LAWS— is FILTHY in God’s eyes!! Our country has turned against Him!! MAY GOD HELP SINFUL AMERICA!!
I wrote a second post, because I thought the computer lost the first one— as the computer system went “down!”
How about going to a Jewish Bakery and demanding a heavily decorated cake celebrating “Happy Birthday Ernst Rohm”.
Given that the Homo-Nazi party was founded by Rohm, who led its ‘SA’ Storm Troopers in to beating Germany in to submission and opening Dachau Concentration camp as an equal opportunity destination for the politically Un-Good, as well as destroying the Boy Scouts and forcing Boys in to a stable for the Ephebophile Leadership to abuse and blackmail the families.
The Fact that Rohm was assassinated by his syphilitic prostitute protege / boy toy Hitler – Before the Nuremberg Laws targeted Jews specifically (Dachau has the largest concentration of Catholic Priest Graves) as opposed to all the ‘intolerant’ opponents of their Uber-Gay Party…
Means that Rohm is a relatively ‘clean nazi’ – and was dead before the Death Camps flowered – and thus Jewish Bakers can be sued for refusing to celebrate Rohm (and Hitler’s) Homo-Anal Coprophile Ephebophile ‘lifestyle’ – in much the same was as these bakers can be sued for refusing to Politically Propagandize a Cake in to promoting Evil.
Who Dares disagree with the ‘legal logic’ behind equal application of this principal?
The post of mine at 11:31 a.m. went out accidentally. Although, there might be some truth to it, I meant to post another one more positive. So here it is:
God bless this lady and give her the protection and fortitude that she needs. She is doing the right thing. In the end she will be richer in many different ways. After all, the Lord Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” I believe what this florist is doing is the kind of ecumenism about which St. John Paul II, Ex Pope Benedict and Pope Francis were and are talking. Telling or encouraging people to abuse and misuse their bodies, or seducing them into such behavior, or deliberately taking away the rights of children to have both a mother and a father has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity — none at all.
In other words, ecumenism to me means that the popes say we should back other Christians and religions where they are right, but reject what is wrong in them and not according to Catholic teaching.
Are Rohm enthusiasts a protected class under the anti-discrimination laws governing fair business practices?
Businesses are allowed to decide what products they offer. If a baker does not want to sell a cake with objectionable words printed on it, then it doesn’t have to offer that product. But if it offers a cake with roses and daisies, then it has to offer that same cake to a gay person, or a black person, or a Jewish person, or a catholic person.
In fact, your side just tried to test this. They sent a jerk in to a baker (I actually don’t remember if the baker was straight or gay), asking for a cake with a cross and with anti-gay remarks on it. Baker consented making the cake, with the cross (as she makes many cakes with crosses), but objected to the words because she objected to their content and apparently has a policy about that. Her solution was to sell the cake with the cross and at no additional charge, gave him the icing and the icing bag to write whatever he wanted on the cake. Similarly, a Jewish baker can refuse to bake a cake with a cross on it, but he cannot refuse to sell any products to a catholic. A man may not refuse to sell a cake to a woman. A citizen cannot refuse to sell a cake to a person from France. etc. etc.
So I think your “legal logic” is a bit off, frankly.
God bless and protect her and give her an abundance of fortitude. She is doing the right thing. In the end she will come out richer in more ways than one. As Our Lord said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” Matthew 10:28.
God bless you sister in Christ. This is the ecumenism about which I believe St. John Paul II, Ex Pope Benedict and Pope Francis are and were talking. Encouraging people to misuse their bodies and that of others and deliberately depriving children of both mothers and fathers have nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity — none at all.
Sodomist Robert Ingersoll is so hate filled
that he insists that someone who was his friend violation her Religion for his personal gratification.
Ingersoll could have easily gone elsewhere for his gay cake. No big deal.
When people live with Satan in their Souls, they insist everyone participate in their evil.
Wow, “YFC”, fines and education for someone holding fast to the tenants of their religious faith?!! Why not send them to re-education camps run by homofascists? I hope folks see the outrageousness of your posts. What you are advocating is tyranny.
YFC, only cares about promoting SODOMY.
He does not care about God, or Religious Freedom, or anyone who does not support SODOMY.
YFC is totally in love with his mortal sins – above all else.
IN the end Kristin that’s what the homo-sex left wants …they scream diversity but demand conformity…Evil demands tolerance until it is dominant then it attacks the good….
Exactly!
Needs to be repeated and remembered:
” That’s what the homo-sex left wants …
they scream diversity but demand conformity…
Evil demands tolerance until it is dominant then it attacks the good….”
Kristin, what I am advocating is that the law be followed. The same law, by the way, that protects people of faith from being discriminated against in employment, housing, public accommodations and such. If a catholic were refused service by a florist, the same law and its fines apply. Are laws protecting anti-catholic discrimination also tyranny?
“YFC”, the law that is to be followed is God’s law, which cannot be parsed. Spinning His law to accommodate public acceptance of sodomy will not suffice in the economy of heaven.
Kristin- 17
YFC-0