WASHINGTON: Anti-Gay Florist Rejects $2000 Settlement, Prefers Martyrdom

Via the Associated Press:

A florist who refused to provide flowers for a gay wedding has rejected an offer from the Washington state attorney general to settle a discrimination case by paying a $2,000 fine and agreeing to sell bouquets for same-sex ceremonies in the future. “Our state would be a better place if we respected each other’s differences, and our leaders protected the freedom to have those differences,” Barronelle Stutzman wrote in a letter Friday to Attorney General Bob Ferguson. She wrote that gay couples are allowed to act on their views, but “because I follow the Bible’s teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, I am no longer free to act on my beliefs.” Stutzman, 70, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, had earlier said she plans to appeal a judge’s ruling that she broke a state anti-discrimination law.

Perhaps obviously, Alliance Defending Freedom is hoping to turn Stutzman's case into a federal issue that would establish the national right to refuse to serve LGBT Americans.