A federal judge sent to trial a lawsuit brought by a Michigan farmer against a city that banned him from its farmers market because of a post on Facebook explaining he chose not to rent his farm for weddings that didn’t comply with his Christian beliefs.
Judge Paul Maloney ruled East Lansing, Michigan, ordinance used to ban Steve and Bridget Tennes of Country Mill Farms was unconstitutional at the time of its adoption.
The non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Country Mill Farms.
“All Americans should be free to live and speak according to their deeply held religious beliefs without fear of government punishment,” said Kate Anderson, senior counsel for ADF. “Today the court correctly recognized that East Lansing’s ordinance was unconstitutionally vague.”
She said the record shows East Lansing “has consistently used this vagueness to act with hostility towards Steve and Bridget Tennes of Country Mill Farms because city officials simply don’t like their Catholic convictions about marriage.”
“In a public debate, a city council member even called Steve’s Catholic beliefs ‘bigot[ed],’ ‘ridiculous, horrible, [and] hateful.’ We are looking forward to stopping this discrimination against Country Mill Farms at trial.”
In his ruling, Maloney noted Stephen Tennes posted his religious beliefs about marriage on Country Mill Farms’ Facebook page.
“In addition to discussing his religious beliefs, Tennes also stated that he would no longer rent his farm for weddings ceremonies (sic) that would violate his religious beliefs. Because of the Facebook post, the city of East Lansing denied Country Mill Farms’ vendor application for the city’s farmers market. Tennes and Country Mill Farms sued. For their motion for summary judgment, Tennes and Country Mill Farms focus almost exclusively on Tennes’ statement concerning his religious beliefs. For the city’s motion … it focuses almost exclusively on Tennes’ statement that he would not rent his property for same-sex weddings,” the judge explained.
After the dispute arose, the city quickly changed its ordinance to to comply with the Constitution, the judge found.
The case charges the city with hostility toward Christianity in its policies and practices.
The U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled that the public display by state officials in Colorado of hostility to baker Jack Phillips’ Christianity was unconstitutional. Phillips refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because it violated his religious beliefs.
See a video about the case:
John Bursch, ADF’s VP for appellate advocacy, said courts “have rightfully and repeatedly rejected this type of religious hostility, as recently as the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.”
“That is why we are asking the district court to issue an order that permanently prevents East Lansing from unconstitutionally targeting Steve on the basis of his beliefs. The city’s response to Steve’s beliefs reeks of anti-religious discrimination.”
The lawyers pointed out that the targeting is clear because Tennes and his family are 22 miles outside the city, which is beyond the city’s jurisdiction.
“In a public debate, a city council member said Tennes’ Catholic beliefs are ‘ridiculous, horrible, [and] hateful things.’ In addition, the mayor of East Lansing criticized Tennes for translating his ‘Catholic view on marriage’ into a business practice, suggesting that Tennes was only doing it for the money. Other city officials said that his marriage beliefs were ‘the same’ as those defending post-slavery racism in the Jim Crow South. The city’s public position was that it would expel Country Mill Farms until it successfully changed the Catholic beliefs of Tennes and his family,” ADF said.
In reality, Tennes’ religious beliefs “motivate him to donate thousands of pounds of apples to local food banks, to share and live out his faith before customers and visitors, and to fight government bureaucrats for the right to build housing for migrant workers,” ADF said.
“Those same beliefs compel Tennes and his employees to treat every single customer with dignity and respect,” Bursch explained. “The city’s condemnation of that same faith – not to mention the city’s attempts to change Steve’s beliefs regarding marriage – violate the U.S. Constitution, the most basic notions of religious freedom, and simple common decency.”
