IDAHO: Coeur d'Alene Declares Hitching Post Exempt From Anti-Discrimination Law

Via Boise's NPR station:

The city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, said a for-profit wedding chapel owned by two ministers doesn't have to perform same-sex marriages. Initially, the city said its anti-discrimination law did apply to the Hitching Post, since it is a commercial business. Earlier this week, Coeur d'Alene city attorney Mike Gridley sent a letter to the Knapps’ attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom saying the Hitching Post would have to become a not-for-profit to be exempt. But Gridley said after further review, he determined the ordinance doesn’t specify non-profit or for-profit. “After we've looked at this some more, we have come to the conclusion they would be exempt from our ordinance because they are a religious corporation,” Gridley explained.

Court filings show the Hitching Post reorganized earlier this month as a “religious corporation.” In the paperwork, the owners describe their deeply held beliefs that marriage should be between one man and one woman. The Knapps' attorney said the city is about to be tested on its approach. He said the Knapps have been contacted by the police about a complaint filed on Thursday by a same-sex couple who were turned away at the Old West themed chapel. Leo Morales of the ACLU of Idaho said the exemption makes sense as long as the Hitching Post primarily performs religious ceremonies. “However, if they do non-religious ceremonies as well, they would be violating the anti-discrimination ordinance,” Morales said. “It's the religious activity that's being protected."

As I noted yesterday, it's rather apparent that Alliance Defending Freedom has been orchestrating the Hitching Post story for months in the hopes of creating a test case that would invalidate public accommodation laws nationwide. (Via Good As You)

ADF Vs Coeur d'Alene, Continued

In an attempt to swat away reports that Alliance Defending Freedom and its allies have consistently lied about the Hitching Post situation in the tiny Idaho town of Coeur d'Alene, the ADF has posted a response to the letter sent them on Monday by the town's attorney. First, an excerpt from the town's letter:

And here is how the ADF is spinning that.

“The city has said explicitly, repeatedly, and publicly that it would prosecute a for-profit business. That’s what the Hitching Post is, and it has never claimed to be anything other than that,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “While the Knapps do operate a ministry, they charge a fee for the ceremonies in order to be able to make a modest living. Therefore, the city, in its letter and elsewhere, is admitting that it would prosecute these pastors, who are clearly under a present threat of being sent to jail, fined, or both. The city has had months to figure out its own ordinance, and our clients have years of incarceration and devastating fines hanging over their heads. The city’s disingenuous waffling is indefensible.”

The religious corporation document filed by the Knapps on Oct. 6 did not change the chapel to a non-profit entity. It continues to operate as a for-profit LLC. City officials told the Knapps that he and his wife Evelyn, both ordained ministers, are required to perform such ceremonies or face months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines. The city repeatedly claimed its “non-discrimination” ordinance requires the Knapps to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies now that the courts have overridden Idaho’s voter-approved constitutional amendment that affirmed marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

They "never claimed" to be anything but a for-profit business? You sure wouldn't know that from the hundreds of articles seen in Teabagistan, where readers believe that the Hitching Post owners are pious pastors who are thisclose to prison sentences. What the ADF is doing, clearly, is using Coeur d'Alene as a test case in their campaign to invalidate public accommodation laws nationwide. The Hitching Post has all the right elements: wedding venue, small town, beleaguered mom & pop operation, ordained ministers. What the ADF hasn't gotten, surely to their regret, are any outraged, ranting, homofascist litigants that they can point to and scream, "GAYSTAPO!"  For now, they have to twist the words of the Coeur d'Alene town attorney.

RELATED: Yesterday Andrew Sullivan quoted gay libertarian author Walter Olson, who supports those so-called "sincerely held religious belief" exemptions to public accommodation laws that protect LGBT Americans. But even Olson is calling out the ADF.

While I hope the Knapps succeed in establishing their exemption from this law, I am still shaking my head at the ADF’s framing efforts, which via Starnes set off a predictable panic about dangers to religious liberty (see also, last week, on the Houston pastors subpoena). In this instance, those efforts amount to something very akin to hiding the ball, including (as cited by Sullivan) the quiet legal revamping of the business onto a religious basis in recent weeks and the silent removal of extensive language on its website that until earlier this month had promoted the chapel as a venue for civil, non-religious wedding ceremonies. Now, the Knapps are free (or should be, in my view) to change their establishment’s business plan overnight to one that welcomes only ceremonies consistent with Foursquare Evangelical beliefs. But shouldn’t their lawyers be upfront that this is what’s going on?

Hitching Post Fact Check

As we learned yesterday, claims about Idaho's Hitching Post wedding venue are a total lie. But that hasn't stopped the avalanche of screeching out of Teabagistan - if anything, they've gotten louder.

Perkins Slams Obama On Constitution, Claims Idaho Marriages Are Stopped

"For a constitutional law professor, President Obama still has a lot to learn about the 14th Amendment. After years of leading Americans on, the former states’ rights, natural marriage defender finally came full circle yesterday, publicly defending the courts’ activism on an issue that still fiercely divides the country. 'Ultimately,' the President told the New Yorker, 'I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all fifty states.' The self-styled 'gay rights President,' Obama insisted that judges are right to trample the 41 million Americans who successfully enacted marriage protection amendments.  Unfortunately for the Left, which either willfully or ignorantly misreads the marriage landscape, the sea change in public opinion hasn’t been as radical as they claim. If anything, same-sex 'marriage' is losing ground as more people come to grips with the consequences of nonconformity -- which, as we learned over the weekend -- includes jail.

"The only place where there seems to be an overwhelming consensus on redefining marriage is in the chambers of 25 unelected judges, who have been arrogant enough to substitute their agendas for the will of 13 states. For now, the states are continuing to put up a fight, right down to the local officials forced to carry out the courts’ bidding. In Idaho, site of the first ministers ordered to perform gay 'weddings' or be imprisoned, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is giving the state a brief reprieve by putting a hold on the ceremonies for now. While the two sides appeal the Ninth Circuit ruling that struck down Idaho’s law, the Knapps -- and other ordained ministers -- will hold their breaths, hoping the same country that gave them conscience rights won’t jail the couple for exercising them." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, lying again about the Hitching Post and totally wrong about a stay on Idaho marriages.

AFA Launches Idaho Petition

From the American Family Association:

TAKE ACTION: Once again, homosexual bullies have targeted Christian-owned businesses in their attempt to silence all opposition to their sinful lifestyle. Coeur d'Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer is the chief executive officer for the city. We have prepared an email you can send to Mayor Widmyer. Or, you can call Mayor Widmyer or post a comment to the city’s Facebook page or Twitter. Urge Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter to get involved and defend Christian-based businesses in Idaho. Encourage him to publicly speak out in support of Donald and Evelyn Knapp's right to religious freedom of speech. One thing is for sure. If you fail to speak out, more pastors and ministers will soon face the relentless anti-Christian wrath of homosexual activists.

Read it here.

The Entire Idaho Story Is A Lie

JMG reader Baltimatt points us to this:

City officials in Coeur d'Alene say they have not received any formal complaints that the Hitching Post wedding chapel has violated the city's anti-discrimination ordinance by refusing to solemnize same-sex marriages. A lawsuit filed in federal court Friday on behalf of Don and Lynn Knapp, ordained ministers and owners of the Hitching Post, claims the couple's constitutional rights to religious freedom are being violated by the city, through the city's anti-discrimination ordinance, because it compels them to officiate over gay marriages.  The law, adopted in 2013, prohibits sexual orientation and gender identity to be used as a basis for discrimination in housing, employment and other public accommodations. News of the lawsuit sparked national headlines over the weekend, primarily from conservative media, claiming that the city is threatening to arrest the Knapps. "We have never threatened to jail them, or take legal action of any kind," said city spokesman Keith Erickson.  [snip] Gridley wrote that the city will not prosecute legitimate nonprofit religious corporations, associations, educational institutions, or societies or other exempt organizations or anyone else as a result of their lawful exercise of their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and religion. When contacted by The Press for comment, Don Knapp said the Hitching Post is not operating as a not-for-profit religious corporation. He also said he does not know ADF Attorney David Cortman.

Also check out Jeremy Hooper's scoop about the Hitching Post's website.

Tony Perkins On Idaho Wedding Venue

"If homosexuals get their way, Pastor Donald Knapp won’t be behind the pulpit -- he’ll be behind bars. That’s the stunning development in Idaho, where the day liberals promised would never come is already here. Two ministers -- a husband and wife team -- have been told by their city government that refusing to 'marry' a same-sex couple will send them straight to jail.  FRC warned this moment was coming, but even we didn’t expect the government to move this quickly.  Government officials are making it clear that they’ll use their power to punish anyone who opposes the agenda of homosexual activists. It’s a scary turnaround for a nation founded on the same free exercise of religion, which is now punishable by six months in prison. When there are plenty of other options for homosexuals seeking a marriage license, why should they be able to use the power of government to force Christians to participate? Remember when President Obama sat down and told ABC News that “churches and other faith institutions are still gonna be able to make determinations about what their sacraments are -- what they recognize”? Neither does he. Or, for that matter, the rest of his party, which is lighting the same-sex unity candle with the same match it’s taking to the Constitution." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via press release.