Washington D.C., Feb 19, 2017 / 03:03 am
A Washington florist fined for not serving a same-sex wedding out of conscience says the state's supreme court "violated" her freedoms by ruling against her on Thursday.
"What the court decided was that now the government has the power to separate me from my livelihood and my faith," Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Wash., told CNA in an interview.
"They're trying to compel me to design something that goes totally against my personal conscience, and they violated my right to free speech and expression."
Stutzman, sued by the state of Washington and the American Civil Liberties Union for declining to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding, lost her appeal at the state's supreme court on Thursday. She says she declined to serve a long-time customer's wedding because of her Christian beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman.