The Patriot Post® · Idaho Wedding Chapel Doesn't Have to Perform Same-Sex Marriages

A city in Idaho decided the religious beliefs of business owners are enough to prevent the city from slapping a non-discrimination charge against the business. Last week, the owners of the Hitching Post, a wedding chapel in Coeur d'Alene, sued the city because they would have faced a misdemeanor charge if they refused to marry same-sex couples. “But now the city is backing off and has determined the Knapps can say no,” writes Scott Shackford at Reason Magazine. “Unfortunately the reason is not because a wedding ceremony is not a right and nobody of any race, sexual orientation, or religion should be able to demand that somebody must bless (in any definition of the word) their relationship. Rather, the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance doesn’t specify that a business has to be a non-profit in order to claim a religious-based exemption from the law.” The city, of course, danced a legal two-step to avoid litigation, so the problem of same-sex non-discrimination laws hunting those practicing religious freedom will still be decided. More…