U.S. Supreme Court rejection of Tri-Cities florist called ‘historic victory for equality’

A Richland floral shop owner who refused to design arrangements for a same-sex wedding eight years ago failed Friday to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her anti-discrimination case.

The country’s highest court wrapped up its October 2020 term with just three justices saying they would agree to review the Washington state decision, the Associated Press reported.

Four of the court’s nine justices are needed to accept a case for review.

That means unanimous opinions by the Washington Supreme Court in both 2017 and 2019 — that Barronelle Stutzman broke state laws when she cited religious freedom in turning down her longtime customer’s request — still stand.

Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers on Lee Boulevard, had been waiting to hear from the U.S. Supreme Court since filing the petition for review in September 2019.

It was Stutzman’s second attempt to get her case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The three who said they would have reviewed it were Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch.

Religious freedom

On Friday, the Alliance Defending Freedom called the outcome of Stutzman’s case “tragic,” and said “the critical work of protecting the First Amendment freedoms of all Americans must continue.”

“No one should be forced to express a message or celebrate an event they disagree with,” Kristen Waggoner, ADF’s general counsel who’s represented Stutzman through the eight-year legal battle , said in a news release.

“A government that can crush someone like Barronelle, who kindly served her gay customer for nearly a decade but simply declined to create art celebrating one sacred ceremony, can use its power to crush any of us regardless of our political ideology or views on important issues like marriage.”

Waggoner noted that the Arizona Supreme Court and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals have recognized the U.S. Constitution does not allow that.

She said Alliance Defending Freedom, based in Arizona, is confident that the Supreme Court will eventually join those courts in affirming the constitutionally protected freedom of creative professionals to live and work consistently with their most deeply held beliefs.”

Dream wedding

Robert Ingersoll, the customer who was turned away by Stutzman, said he and his fiance was forced to cancel plans for their dream wedding in 2013 because they were afraid it would happen again with another business.

“We had a small ceremony at home instead,” Ingersoll said on Friday. “We hope this decision sends a message to other LGBTQ people that no one should have to experience the hurt that we did.”

A Southern Baptist, Stutzman has argued that arranging flowers is artistic expression protected under the First Amendment.

Now 76, she was sued by the couple, Ingersoll and Curt Freed, and separately by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

The lawsuits said Stutzman violated the state’s anti-discrimination law and the Consumer Protection Act by declining to provide services based on sexual orientation.

State law says businesses offering services to opposite-sex couples must provide the same service to same-sex couples.

The two lawsuits have worked their way up together from Benton County Superior Court to the state Supreme Court, and ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court, which vacated Washington state’s previous ruling and remanded it back to the lower court in 2018.

In June 2019, the state Supreme Court stuck with its original opinion.

The Washington justices further said they found no sign of intolerance or hostility toward religion on behalf of their court or Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom, who gave the initial ruling in the case.

Legal equality

Ferguson, the state attorney general, on Friday called it a “historic victory for equality.”

“Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not only wrong — it’s unlawful,” Ferguson said in a news release. “Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court puts an end to our case, and sends a message to the entire country that everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be treated equally under the law.”

Ingersoll and Freed were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in their fight against Arlene’s Flowers.

The ACLU said Washington’s earlier ruling still stands — the Constitution does not grant a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

“Planning a wedding was a joyful time for Rob and Curt until they were refused service at their local flower shop,” said Ria Tabacco Mar, an ACLU lawyer and director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. ”No one should walk into a store and have to wonder whether they will be turned away because of who they are.”

“Preventing that kind of humiliation and hurt is exactly why we have nondiscrimination laws,” she added “Yet 60 percent of states still don’t have express protections for LGBTQ people like the kind in Washington state. Our work isn’t over yet.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 11:29 AM.