Legal proceedings that have rumbled on for nearly a decade appear to have finally come to an end after a Washington state florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding dropped her Supreme Court appeal.
Barronelle Stutzman, 77, who ran Arlene’s Flowers, turned down the request for the flowers from fiancés Curt Freed and Robert Ingersoll back in 2013. She claimed it went against her religious convictions.
Related: Homophobic Washington florist slapped with second lawsuit after discriminating against gays
A lengthy legal battle ensued, with Stutzman being backed by the conservative legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom.
Freed and Ingersoll said they had been discriminated against because of their sexuality, which went against state law. Washington Supreme Court agreed, prompting Stutzman to lodge an appeal with the US Supreme Court.
That appeal was denied in July, but Stutzman’s lawyers asked for the court to reconsider.
This week, Alliance Defending Freedom said Stutzman had reached an agreement with the couple and will pay them $5,000 in damages.
ADF said in a statement, ”A settlement agreement secured by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys with the ACLU ends a lawsuit brought against floral artist Barronelle Stutzman nearly a decade ago without forcing her to act against her religious beliefs or to pay potentially ruinous attorneys’ fees—a threat she has endured for years.
“Stutzman has chosen to retire so her beloved employees can run her business, Arlene’s Flowers. She will withdraw a pending petition for rehearing at the U.S. Supreme Court and make a payment of only $5,000 to the two men who sued her.”
Stutzman, a great grandmother, included her own statement. She said she’d been friends with Rob Ingersoll and provided flowers for him previous to 2013, but she “drew a line” when asked to provide flowers for his wedding to another man.
“What followed were lawsuits filed against me and a concerted effort to either force me to change my religious beliefs or pay a devastating price for believing them including being threatened with the loss of my home, my business, and my life savings.”
According to CNN, Freed and Ingersoll says they’re going to donate the $5,000 to a local chapter of LGBTQ-advocacy group PFLAG, along with a further $5,000 of their own money.
In a statement issued by ACLU, Freed and Ingersoll said: “We took on this case because we were worried about the harm being turned away would cause LGBTQ people. We are glad the Washington Supreme Court rulings will stay in place to ensure that same-sex couples are protected from discrimination and should be served by businesses like anyone else.
“We are also pleased to support our local PFLAG’s work to support LGBTQ people in the Tri-Cities area. It was painful to be turned away and we are thankful that this long journey for us is finally over.”
Related: Don Jr. encourages people to support baker who refused cake for trans woman
Bosch
That’s an awfully butch haircut for homophobic lady.
BLAKENOW
I had no idea Leslie Jordan was a a florist who discriminates against gays? wtf?
Mister P
I’m sure no one wants to do her hair.
TheRedLine
She said prior to 2013 she was “friends” with him. No, you weren’t friends with him. You couldn’t have been because a friend wouldn’t do that to another friend.
Max
nice to see the anti-discrimination law in effect and that legal action was there from the start. breaking a law shouldn’t go without repercussion.
her own inability to take responsibility and follow state law is what was actually “threatening” her pocketbook. not sure how she thought she could persevere in the first place.
ZzBomb
This was a decade long battle? Good lord $5000 is chump change compared to the lawyer bills I’m sure.
Hank31
She was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom for free. ADF spent a huge amount of time on the case and probably racked up $100,000 in out-of-pocket expenses.
SammySeattle
ADF fundraised off of this old bigot for 10 years , recouping thier fees many times over. When donations started to dry up they put the cash-cow out to pasture and settled.
Hank31
The Christian Right promoted her endlessly as a “victim” of gay marriage. In fact, she made just shy of $100K in a crowd-fund some years ago (before it was yanked), and she will only pay out $5K — for a net gain of $95K. As victimhood goes, that’s a pretty sweet deal.
It’s also worth remembering, whenever you hear a Christian conservative yammer on about the the big problem of “florists” who are “forced” to service gay weddings, that this was the sole florist dispute related to a gay wedding in the entire United States, and indeed, the entire world.
Openminded
IMHO, this is another example of the problem with our legal system. Nobody but the lawyers really gained anything out of this. I’m sure some of the legal team were pro bono but you can bet there was plenty of funds paid to lawyers working just for the money, not for the cause, on both sides. Personally, I support a business owner’s decision to provide services to only those they want to. There’s plenty of gay florists out there, as well as gay bakers, etc.. Why force someone to do something against their will, even it you have legal grounds to stand on? I’d much rather have only happy memories of my wedding, not bragging rights that I brought some prude florist down. Life’s much calmer when you choose to ignore the idiots around you and simply move on and find someone who is happy to serve your needs.
SammySeattle
The “go somewhere else” argument doesn’t work.
Cam
What a shock, the screename that always supports anti-LGBTQ bigots thinks it should be ok for businesses to be racist or bigoted.
I notice none of your screenames that support this view ever seem to realize that these are PUBLIC facing businesses, using public infrastructure paid for by taxes, AND have to obtain a business license to do business with the PUBLIC.
You right wing Republicans would take us back to the days were Black people had to come through a separate door, or go to a separate part of town and LGBTQ people had to act like we didn’t exist.
Openminded
Cam, These businesses are rarely, if ever, paid for with gov’t money, unlike your rent, so that old argument is a non starter. As for the infrastructure, that business paid way more in taxes and utility rates than private citizens so there’s good argument that without these businesses, your infrastructure and utility costs would be much higher. As I stated in my comment that you, no doubt, turned in to be removed, Too many minorities want to cancel everyone who doesn’t agree and walk lock step with them UNTIL they want services from these people. Then they want to force them to provide the desired service. I’m not saying it’s right for a business to deny a gay patron service but likewise, I don’t think the gay patron who is using lawsuits to force the business into compliance is actually any better. Both parties are simply in a p**sing contest to see who can force their beliefs on the other party when actually, both parties should just walk away and leave each other alone. Cam, it’s really sad how full of hate you are and how you blame the mountain of problems you obviously have in your life on everyone but the man in the mirror. I feel sorry for you that you can’t be nearly as important as you so dearly want to be. You are the liberal equivalent of Trump, much bigger in your mind than anywhere else.
Tombear
Good, religious freedom,haha, should be very very expensive. I’m glad the men sued her. Problem is many gay men and women whom are discriminated against under the guise of religious freedom don’t do anything. My husband and I were discriminated against by a local restaurant. We sued. Between Covid and my husband’s legal expertise, the restaurant is no longer in business. Wake up!
Cam
It sounds like some higher level Republicans came to them and demanded the organization supporting her drop the case in case the court case went against them.
Brewster69
So Tombear, how many people lost their jobs because you and your husband decided to teach the restaurant a lesson? As an older gay male (I’m 66) I’ve had my share of derogatory remarks over the years. I don’t make an issue over it because I refuse to stoop to the other persons level. As Michelle Obama once said, “When they go low, we go high” There are many businesses I refuse to deal with because of their attitude towards LGBTQI+ issues. I’m sure that the owners of these businesses are not losing sleep over the fact that I’m not buying from them but at least I have the satisfaction that someone else is benefitting from my business instead.
Openminded
Brew, are you ever amazed at how much wisdom we older guys gained once we were out of school for a few decades? One of my greatest personal accomplishments was learning that I’m no more nor no less important than any other human being and that only a fool wastes time and energy trying to prove otherwise.
dali
I thought this was a photo of Sophia Petrillo in the Golden Girls!