A for-profit wedding chapel run by two ordained ministers in Idaho is suing the city of Coeur d’Alene over a non-discrimination ordinance that would require them to provide marriage services to same-sex couples.
The Hitching Post is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), who have filed a federal lawsuit and requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from enforcing the non-discrimination ordinance, which could see the owners face jail time or fines. The suit argues:
“The Knapps are thus under a constant, coercive and substantial threat to violate their religious beliefs due to the risk that they will incur the penalties of jail time and criminal fines for declining to speak a message and perform a wedding service that contradicts their religious beliefs and ministerial vows.”
The Spokesman-Review reports that the lawsuit was prompted by a man contacting the chapel last week to ask about a same-sex wedding, only to be turned down. Owners Donald and Evelyn Knapp are seeking a restraining order to make sure the city can’t “force” them to perform same-sex ceremonies.
The ADF are so far doing their best to treat The Hitching Post as a church, explicitly referring to it as a “ministry,” despite the fact that the chapel is nothing more than a for-profit business. Tellingly, Jeremy Hooper at Good as You points out that it’s a business that used to “perform wedding ceremonies of other faiths as well as civil weddings” – a claim that’s been removed from the chapel’s website only within the last month.
Right Wing Watch spotted that Pat Robertson has weighed in on the case, urging the Knapps to “leave Idaho” and “get out of that state and if need be close that chapel down,” predicting that next churches will be forced to perform same-sex weddings. “I think those guys in Idaho had better get out of dodge now before it gets any worse,” Robertson warned.
The ADF and some conservative media and pundits will be all too happy to present this as a case of religious freedoms being crushed, of two poor Christian ministers being forced to abandon their faith. It’s important to remember that The Hitching Post is a business first and foremost, and a business that has happily performed non-Christian weddings before now. Churches aren’t going to be forced to perform same-sex marriages, but a private wedding business that refuses to do so is simply discriminating, no matter what the grounds.