Vermont Christian Business Owners Forced to Pay $30,000 in Fines for Expressing Their Religious Beliefs to Lesbian Couple

Express your Christian Belief – Get Fined $30,000
wildflower inn gays
Ming Linsley, left, and Kate Baker smile after winning $30,000 from a Vermont Bed and Breakfast. The owners of the Bed-and-Breakfast made the mistake of expressing their reigious beliefs to the couple.
It cost them dearly.

In Vermont – Gay rights trump Religious rights

Yesterday, I spoke with Jim Campbell from the ADF about this recent case of Christian persecution. A Bed and Breakfast expressed their religious beliefs to a same-sex couple and ended up paying $30,000 in fines.

Townhall reported on the settlement last year.

A Vermont bed and breakfast has settled a lawsuit brought by the state’s Human Rights Commission and two women who wanted to have a same-sex wedding reception on the inn’s property.

The Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville agreed to pay $10,000 to the Vermont Human Rights Commission as a civil penalty for violating Vermont’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act as well as $20,000 in a charitable trust to be controlled by the couple, the Burlington Free Press reported Aug. 23.

“The Wildflower Inn has always served — and will continue to serve — everyone in our community. But no one can force us to abandon our deeply held beliefs about marriage,” owner Jim O’Reilly, a Catholic, said in a statement. “Our beliefs haven’t changed, but we do have lives to live, a family to love, a business to grow, and a community to serve.

“Small businesses like ours cannot match the limitless resources of the government and the ,” O’Reilly said. “Ongoing litigation like this can cripple any small business and the livelihood of its owners, so we’re relieved to put this ordeal behind us.”

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!