One attorney says it's "unfortunate" that a small business owner in Vermont has decided to settle a complaint over a same-gender "wedding" reception.
An investigation revealed that a former employee sparked the lawsuit against the Wildflower Inn, a family-owned and -operated bed and breakfast in Lyndonville, by falsely reporting that the owners would not permit the event based on their religious beliefs. She then betrayed her employer by offering the potential clients event services through her personal business.
Alliance Defending Freedom reports that the inn's actual business practice, which was approved by the Vermont Human Rights Commission in 2005, was to honestly disclose its owners' religious convictions to potential customers while agreeing to serve everyone in accordance with the law.
But the state Human Rights Commission and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit, even though a subsequent investigation revealed the inn stopped hosting weddings and receptions three months prior and had not been violating the law.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jim Campbell tells OneNewsNow the Wildflower Inn has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle the case.
"It's unfortunate, but the inn has agreed to make these payments to end this ordeal and the threat that the litigation posed not only to the owners' livelihood, but also to the livelihood of all of their employees," Campbell comments.
He notes that the attorney for the Human Rights Commission also serves as its executive director and is on the board of the ACLU of Vermont.
"Legal attacks like this one are not pursuits for justice, but attempts to coerce and police private expression," the ADF attorney asserts.
Wildflower owner Jim O'Reilly says the family business will continue to serve the public in general, though he insists that "no one can force [his family] to abandon [its] deeply held beliefs about marriage."