A couple fined by the for refusing to host a lesbian wedding at their New York property has decided to close the venue to all weddings rather than violate their religious beliefs,
A couple fined by the for refusing to host a lesbian wedding at their New York property has decided to close the venue to all weddings rather than violate their religious beliefs, reports Yahoo! News.
Last month, the New York State Division of Human Rights affirmed the state's Human Rights Law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the case of Melisa and Jennifer McCarthy after their 2012 request to have their wedding at the Albany area farm and wedding venue was turned down as soon as the owners found out they were a same-sex couple.
According to anti-gay Christian litigation group Alliance Defending Freedom attorney James Trainor, Cynthia and Robert Gifford, the venue's owners, have since decided not to host ceremonies anymore, other than those already scheduled, "in order to stay true to their religious convictions."
In a similar ongoing case, Denver baker Jack Phillips has appealed an order from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission requiring him to prepare wedding cakes for same-sex couples after the CCRC rejected his appeal of a judge's earlier ruling that he “unlawfully discriminated against a gay couple by refusing to sell them a wedding cake” in 2012.
Watch a press conference with the Giffords, AFTER THE JUMP…
