Newlyweds Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed celebrate their marriage and win over bigotry. The Washington State Supreme Court on June 6 upheld its previous decision in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against a Richland florist. The court again found that Arlene’s Flowers violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) by refusing to serve a same-sex couple seeking to buy wedding flowers in 2013. “Washington state law protects same-sex couples from discrimination based on their sexual orientation, the same way it protects Washingtonians from discrimination based on their religion, veteran or military status, disability, race and other protected classes,” Ferguson said. “I will continue to uphold these laws and fight to protect Washingtonians from discrimination.” Under Washington law, a business need not provide a particular service, but if it chooses to do so for couples of the opposite sex, it must provide that service equally to same-sex couples. Despite multiple inaccurate statements from the lawyers for owner of Arlene’s Flowers Barronelle Stutzman that Attorney General Ferguson aimed to bankrupt her, Ferguson sought and received only $1 in attorney’s fees. The Washington State Supreme Court reached the same conclusion in its 2017 ruling on the case, […]
