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ACLU responds to Vermont innkeepers who turned away lesbian wedding

by Hannah Clay Wareham
Bay Windows
Saturday Aug 27, 2011
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling foul on a Vermont inn that last month refused to host the wedding reception for a lesbian couple. After filing suit against the Wildflower Inn on July 21 for turning away same-sex couple Kate Baker and Ming Linsley, the ACLU has received and reviewed the Inn’s legal response. The response acknowledges the owners’ refusal in hosting the couple’s reception was biased; it claims, however, that the innkeepers have a First Amendment right to discriminate in choosing their clientele.

"The ACLU plans to pursue this litigation vigorously," said Allen Gilbert, executive director of the ACLU of Vermont. "The Wildflower Inn owners do not deny that they refused to host Kate and Ming’s wedding reception. Instead, they continue to claim a right to discriminate against the couple, which is in violation of Vermont law. We are confident that the owners’ claim that they have a First Amendment right to discriminate will be found meritless by the courts.

"This case is about discrimination, plain and simple. Vermont’s nondiscrimination laws have been on the books for nearly 20 years―long before civil unions or marriage equality in Vermont. The bottom line is that a business that is open to the public cannot deny service to customers based on their race, their religion, or their sexual orientation."

"We look forward to having the Vermont courts make it clear that this discrimination is illegal," said plaintiff Baker. "Nobody should ever be turned away because of who they are when they’re simply trying to hold a celebration with their family at a public venue."

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Comments

  • chanson d’amour, 2011-10-20 17:07:43

    It’s despicable that an Inn would discriminate that way. We consider the pain bestowed on so many when discrimination like this seeks to defend hatred that is flagrant and targeted. But that pain pales in the light of another incident here in Vermont. Two lawyers, one representing a rapist, who is himself surrounded by lawyers and key representatives of the state, forcing an innocent gay man into a back room, closing the door, and trying to force him, verbally abusing him, to say he had a "sexual dysfunction." There are few resources here to protect gay men and women from this kind of moral and legal abuse, in part because positions of power work very, very closely here in these hills. It’s time that this incident is exposed for what it is. These two lawyers hide in their own kind of closet, protected if you will by a very small, intimate little system that cares not for this very vibrant and gifted gay man who never hid in a closet but worked tirelessly on the frontlines to end discrimination. The pain suffered by this gay man has taken a physical and emotional toll that is heartbreaking and devastating. We will not give up until the names of these two lawyers are revealed as the devastation bestowed on this gay man has been immeasurable. Surely, if we can put a stop to businesses that deny two women the right to celebrate on the premises, we can expose the outrageous and violent act of torture and humiliation that these two lawyers committed on behalf of a well-heeled state employee.


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