Gov’t Ultimatum: ‘Give Up Your Faith or Give Up Your Livelihood’
A husband and wife who own a farm in central New York are continuing to appeal a punishment enacted by the New York State Division of Human Rights after they were found guilty of “sexual orientation discrimination” and fined $13,000 for refusing to host a same-sex wedding ceremony on their property.
Attorneys for Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm, a farm and special events venue in Schaghticoke, New York, filed an opening brief in the Gifford v. Erwin case on Thursday in an effort to defend the embattled business owners. The Giffords maintain that the monetary fine as well as a requirement that they send staff to what lawyers called “re-education training classes” violate their rights.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal firm that represents the Gifford family, claims that the government failed to take the couple’s Christian faith into account when...
Dr. Steven J. Lawson | 10/11/2009
