"NY farm pays fine for refusing lesbian wedding" Associated Press November 12, 2014
ALBANY, N.Y. — A rural New York wedding venue whose owners were fined $13,000 for refusing to host a lesbian wedding has stopped booking ceremonies.
Liberty Ridge Farm’s owners, citing constitutional rights to free speech and religious freedom, have appealed the August ruling by the Division of Human Rights that they violated state antidiscrimination law.
Their attorney said Robert and Cynthia Gifford paid the $10,000 state civil penalty and $1,500 each to Melisa and Jennie McCarthy, whose 2013 wedding they declined to host. The Giffords testified last year that in their Christian beliefs, marriage is between a man and a woman, and the ceremonies are held at their home, a private space where their own rights should come first.
They still book wedding receptions for anyone and are hosting the wedding ceremonies they had already booked, attorney James Trainor said Monday.
Not hosting ceremonies is going to cost them business, but they decided that the ruling left them with two options — to host all or none, he said.
The state of New York legalized same-sex marriage in June 2011.
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