Unanimous bench finds SCOTUS Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling irrelevant AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF WASHINGTON For the second time, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the discrimination claims brought by Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, as well as by the state attorney general, against Arlene’s Flowers for its owner, Barronelle Stutzman, refusing to provide flowers for the two men’s 2013 wedding are valid. The nine-member Washington State Supreme Court refused on June 6 to back down from its earlier decision that Barronelle Stutzman and her business, Arlene’s Flowers, violated the state’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws in February 2013 when she told Robert Ingersoll she would not provide floral arrangements for his wedding to Curt Freed. The court held that Stutzman had no religious-based constitutional privilege to violate the state’s anti-discrimination law, which includes sexual orientation protections in public accommodations. Stutzman quickly announced she would attempt to appeal the new ruling to the US Supreme Court, which for several months has been pondering whether to grant review in a gay wedding cake case from Oregon. The Washington court originally ruled on this case in February 2017, but Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the anti-LGBTQ litigation group representing Arlene’s Flowers, petitioned […]
