Betty and Dick Odgaard, the owners of Görtz Haus Gallery in Grimes, Iowa is closing down their business after two years of legal disputes that resulted from their refusal to let a gay couple use the venue for their wedding. Görtz Haus is a quaint 13-year-old business that serves as an art gallery, bistro, flower shop, and wedding business. The Odgaards were found guilty of discrimination in a verdict made by a court judge in December 2014. Betty told TheBlaze that the lawsuit led to the end of their business in an email on Sunday, June 21.
“Our case had everything to do with our closing. Once we could no longer host weddings it was only a matter of time. The lunch business had already decreased substantially due to boycotts and all the slander and black eye now on Görtz Haus,” wrote Betty in an email to TheBlaze on Sunday.
Lee Stafford and his fiancé Jared Ellars, a gay couple sued the Odgaards after being refused wedding service in August 2013. The couple reported the incident to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission within 24 hours. After attempting to receive $10,000 as settlement for the lawsuit, the settlement was reduced to $5,000 following negotiations. The Odgaards received hate mail, boycotts, and fierce opposition from their community after word of the lawsuit got out. Betty said that she suffered from severe depression following the incident.
“Betty, you’re very old and almost dead. How do you both feel, knowing that America, and the world, will be a better place without you?” wrote a man named Mick.
The Odgaards came up with a resolve to end the wedding business. This would serve as a solution to potential lawsuits in the future regarding gay marriages. To the Odgaards, the end is just another name for a new beginning. The end of their wedding business has jumpstarted a beginning of God’s Original Design Ministry, a non-profit organization that will “advance Christian teachings, Biblical ordinances and natural laws as God intended.” The organization has been granted a 501 ©(3) status. Betty and Dick have a website for the ministry and plan on placing billboards nationwide in America to reinforce Biblical standards.
“I feel like God has just put a sense of no fear in us. He wins in the end, so what are we afraid of?” Betty said. “And we would like for other Christians to feel the same way, because what are we afraid of, really?”
According to the ministry’s website, it was "established to advance Christian teachings, Biblical ordinances and natural laws as God intended.” The couple plan to place billboards all over the country in an effort to defend traditional marriage and biblical values. Görtz Haus Gallery, which used to be St. Peter Lutheran Church may turn into a church again. The Odgaards shared news to vendors that Görtz Haus will officially close in August 2015.
