Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm in upstate New York, appeal a judge's decision that found them guilty of discriminating against a couple based on their sexual orientation
Lawyers Suing Farmers for Refusing to Host Same-Sex Wedding Compare Case to ‘Race Discrimination’
By Heritage Foundation Kelsey Harkness——Bio and Archives--November 25, 2015
The case against the owners of a small farm in upstate New York—who were ordered to pay $13,000 for refusing to host a same-sex wedding—moved forward Monday. Attorneys for the same-sex couple argued that the case is about the “same issues” as racial discrimination.
“We’ve been through this with race discrimination 40 years ago, and these are the same issues,” Mariko Hirose, an attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union, told CBS 6 Albany after oral arguments. “We hope and expect that the court will uphold the public accommodation laws it has applied for many years.”
The dispute began in 2012, when Melisa Erwin and Jennifer McCarthy called the Giffords to ask them to host their same-sex wedding at Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, N.Y., about 30 miles north of Albany.
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