A Christian business owner and ordained minister won a major religious liberty victory Friday when an Ohio county agreed not to force her to perform same-sex weddings under a controversial non-discrimination law.
The law in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
Kristi Stokes, an ordained Christian minister and the owner of the business Covenant Weddings, filed a federal lawsuit in July, claiming the law would force her to officiate weddings and compose wedding homilies for same-sex couples in violation of her beliefs. The suit said Stokes “gladly works with people regardless of who they are, including LGBT individuals,” but “cannot officiate or bless every marital union.”
On Oct. 23, the county agreed in a court judgment that Stokes would not be forced to perform same-sex weddings. Stokes’ business is not impacted by the law because it does “not have a physical storefront,” the judgment read.
But even if the business was “considered a place of public accommodation,” the county’s law “does not mandate or force Kristi Stokes, or any other minister, to officiate or solemnize weddings against their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the judgment said. The law also “does not mandate or force” Stokes “to author specific…
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