Cynthia and Robert Gifford were required to pay $13,000 according to a New York court ruling on the basis that the couple declined the request from a lesbian couple to use their family farm for their wedding.
Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin filed the lawsuit against the Giffords in 2012, arguing that the Giffords’ refusal led to “mental anguish” and “set them months back in search for another location,” according to a Christian Post report.
The New York court ruled that their refusal was a form of discrimination, and that as long as the Giffords are using the farm, called Liberty Ridge Farm and located near Albany, for for-profit purposes, they cannot argue that that space is private, even if they reside there. Liberty Ridge Farm often offers its space for parties, weddings, receptions, and festivals, among other events.
Mariko Hirose from the New York Civil Liberties Union argued, “All New Yorkers are entitled to their own religious beliefs, but businesses cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation any more than they can based on race or national origin.”
However, the couple offered to allow the lesbian couple to use their space for their reception, but allowing them to hold their wedding ceremony would be allowing an action that is against their religious beliefs to happen “too close to home,” according to the Giffords’ lawyer, James Trainor.
“The fact that the Giffords also reside at Gifford Barn does not render it private,” the court ruling stated.
The ruling also said that the Giffords must pay a $10,000 fine, and pay $1,500 to each of the two women as restitution.
This incident comes after a few preceding cases of Christian businesses being sued for refusing to offer services to same-sex couples, such as a Christian photographer who declined a same-sex couple’s request to shoot their wedding ceremony, and a bakery owner refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding.
