Florist’s attorney: Suggestion government can compel you to express a message is terrifying
Feb 20, 2015, 11:52 AM | Updated: 1:10 pm
Kristen Waggoner, the attorney for Baronelle Stutzman, tells 770 KTTH's Ben Shapiro they are planning to appeal a judge's ruling this week that said Stutzman broke a Washington state anti-discrimination law by refusing to provide flowers for a gay wedding. (MyNorthwest.com/Alyssa Kleven)
(MyNorthwest.com/Alyssa Kleven)
A Tri-Cities florist has declined state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s offer to settle a discrimination case involving flowers for a gay wedding.
Barronelle Stutzman on Friday sent a letter to Ferguson rejecting his offer to settle the case by paying a $2,000 fine and agreeing to sell flowers to people planning gay weddings.
Stutzman says, in a press release, that she continues to believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman.
Related: Florist declines settlement offer
Stutzman’s attorney, Kristen Waggoner, tells 770 KTTH’s Ben Shapiro they are planning to appeal a judge’s ruling this week that said Stutzman broke a Washington state anti-discrimination law by refusing to provide flowers for a gay wedding.
“What I make of the judge’s ruling is that it sends a very clear message to the people of Washington, and really the people of this nation, and that is that you put your home, you put your business, you put your life savings at risk if you dare to defy a government mandate that says you need to promote same-sex marriage,” says Waggoner.
She says a major component of the case is freedom of expression and that while same-sex marriage was being debated in the state, there were assurances other people’s rights wouldn’t be impacted.
“What we heard time and time again was that someone else’s marriage was not going to affect us. That we would still have the right of freedom of expression, and that clearly wasn’t true, and it was never intended to be true,” says Waggoner. “This idea that the government can force you to be quiet and not say something, it’s frightening. But the suggestion that government can coerce you or compel you to express a message should terrify anyone, whether they have religious beliefs or not.”
The true test of liberty is what happens when people disagree, says Waggoner.
“Those that are tolerant are people like Barronelle who served Rob Ingersoll for nearly a decade in what he says was a loving and kind way,” says Waggoner.
“This idea of tolerance and diversity is something we all need to embrace in a true way.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
