New York vs. The Gifford Family

The Gifford family owns a farm for wedding ceremonies in central New York. They started having legal problems in 2012 after they told Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, “a lesbian couple from Newark, New Jersey, that they were welcome to hold their reception on the property, but not the actual wedding ceremony.” McCarthy and Erwin were angry at the rejection they received from the Gifford family. They reportedly “took their grievances — and audio from their conversation with the farm owners that was secretly recorded — to New York’s Division of Human Rights, claiming that they were discriminated against as a result of their sexual orientation.”

A New York judge agreed with McCarthy and Erwin and fined the Gifford family “$10,000 plus an additional $3,000 in damages for violating anti-discrimination regulations under New York’s Human Rights Law; the state legalized gay marriage in 2011.” The Gifford family appealed the ruling in 2014 but was recently given the same result by The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department.

James Trainor an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom says, “We had hoped that the court would recognize that the government has clearly gone too far. The Constitution prohibits the government from forcing anyone to help communicate messages that conflict with their core beliefs about marriage.” Since the ruling the Gifford family has “decided to no longer host any wedding ceremonies on their property (other than the ones already under contract). Since the order essentially compelled them to do all ceremonies or none at all, they have chosen the latter in order to stay true to their religious convictions, even though it will likely hurt their business in the short run.”

To See the Original Article in The Blaze Click Here