WASHINGTON –A floral artist from Washington state asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to reverse a decision by the state’s high court which concluded that the government can force her—and, by extension, other creative professionals—to create artistic expression and participate in events with which they disagree.
“They want my home, they want my finances, they want my personal finances as an example for other people to be quiet,” says Barronelle Stutzman (pictured left), the Washington state florist who is fighting for the right to follow her religious convictions after prayerfully discerning she would be unable to do the floral arrangements for the gay “marriage” of one of her long time customers and friend.
Though they originally and candidly discussed her support for his happiness and her religious convictions, and though the man said he understood and they exchanged an honest hug with no tensions, Stutzman soon found herself slapped with two discrimination lawsuits, completely stripping her of her God-given and U.S. Constitutional re-inforced rights to religious freedom.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys represent Stutzman, whom the Washington State Attorney General and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued for acting consistently with her faith. ADF attorneys are asking the high court to consolidate Stutzman’s case with a similar ADF case that the court already accepted, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which involves cake artist Jack Phillips.
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- ACLU’s twisted POV (ed. note: If the tables were turned, would the ACLU defend a Christian who cried descrimination against an LGBT individual who refused to do floral arrangements at a Christian wedding of a man and woman?)