The state of Washington’s highest court upheld on Thursday its ruling that a florist violated state law by refusing to handle a same-sex wedding, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s contrary decision in a similar case.
In a unanimous decision, the Washington Supreme Court said neither it nor the Benton County Superior Court acted with religious animus toward Barronelle Stutzman and her business, Arlene’s Flowers, when they found she broke the state’s anti-discrimination law.
Stutzman’s case was sent back to the state last year by the U.S. Supreme Court after its ruling in a dispute involving a Colorado baker who declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple because of his religious views. In June 2018, the court held that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission was hostile to baker Jack Phillips’ faith and failed to act neutrally toward his religion.
In its ruling Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court said it’s confident that Stutzman’s dispute was resolved “with tolerance, and we therefore find no reason to change our original judgment” in light of the Colorado case.
Stutzman’s attorneys said they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court once again. Her case dates to 2013, when she refused to sell flowers to customer Robert Ingersoll for his wedding to Curt Freed on the basis of her religious beliefs.
The state and the couple sued Stutzman under a law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public accommodations. Stutzman subsequently argued the law violated her First Amendment rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, and free association.
The Benton County Supreme Court ruled in favor of the gay couple and the state, and the Washington Supreme Court agreed in 2017.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson praised Thursday’s decision from the state high court and vowed to “fight to protect Washingtonians from discrimination.”
