In 2002, Betty and Richard Odgaard remodeled an old Lutheran church in Grimes, turning it into the Gortz Haus Gallery. Their troubles began in 2013, when the couple refused to host a homosexual wedding at the gallery.
"We were sued," Betty Odgaard recalls. "It was really ugly in the beginning, and it about took us out but we are still here, praise God."
The Odgaards were ordered to pay $5,000 to the homosexuals and also stopped hosting weddings.
Their refusal also hurt business. Familiar faces aren't coming by anymore.
"We got a lot of phone calls in the beginning," Mrs. Odgaard recalls, "and they said, Heard what you did. We'll never be back again because you're haters and bigots. So, yes, we saw a decrease in our business immediately."
But the couple is undeterred and now has a ministry called God's Original Design. Their plan is to use billboards to proclaim natural marriage as God's design.
"We have healed after a year and a half – almost two years – and God has set us on a mission," she says.
News stories each weekday from reporters you can trust without the liberal bias found in much of "mainstream" media.
News stories each weekday from reporters you can trust without the liberal bias found in much of "mainstream" media.