Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers is seeking an OK to refuse service to gay couples. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key) After obtaining a perfunctory decision last year in her favor, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State is back before the U.S. Supreme Court with a renewed call for a First Amendment ruling allowing her to refuse service to same-sex couples seeking floral arrangements for their weddings. In her 41-page petition for certiorari , Baronelle Stutzman alleges the Washington State Supreme Court ignored case law in favor of religious freedom when it ruled — now twice — she violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination by refusing to provide floral arrangements in 2013 for a same-sex wedding. “In Obergefell’s wake, government officials continue to disregard civility and punish ‘reasonable and sincere’ people of faith like Barronelle because of their beliefs about marriage,” the petition says. “This violates the First Amendment’s promise that citizens are free ‘to differ as to things’ such as marriage and religion ‘that touch the heart of the existing order.’ Unless this court intervenes, that freedom will be gone, and people like Barronelle will be marginalized in their own communities.” Representing Stutzman is the […]
