Florist sued for refusing to deliver to atheist teen

[cbayer]

http://www.examiner.com/article/florist-sued-for-refusing-to-deliver-to-atheist-teen

FEBRUARY 4, 2013
BY: CHELSEA HOFFMAN


Jessica Ahlquist
Credits: Jessica Ahlquist

Remember Jessica Ahlquist? She is the Rhode Island teen who successfully sued her high school to have a Christian prayer banner removed from its walls. During the course of this lawsuit and the astounding amount of media attention she attracted, this teenager became the target of vitriol and threats. But something that is most disappointing is that some businesses that operated near her home refused to provide her and her family with service -- including Twins Florist in Cranson, R.I.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing the owner of this florist on the grounds that they denied them access to accommodations and violated state laws regarding discrimination. Opposing Views shared on Feb. 3, 2013 that the florist refused to deliver flowers to the teen atheist due to religious reasons.

It is illegal to refuse service to someone based on race, gender, religion or sexual orientation on a federal level so the FFRF might have the edge in this lawsuit. While business owners have the right to refuse service for many reasons, a non-belief in deities is not one of them. The owner of Twins Florist might have made an awful mistake in refusing to deliver flowers to Jessica Ahlquist, because she might as well have refused service to someone based on skin color and that is something looked down upon in the modern U.S.

more at link

[dlwickham]

1. it's simply amazing how stupid some of these business owners are

you leave your personal beliefs at the door

[cbayer]

2. This had a lot to do with the dynamics in the town at the time of this incident.

[Angry Dragon]

3. off to prison with them

[cbayer]

4. While I suspect there will be monetary penalties, I doubt very much that anyone is going

to prison over this.

[Angry Dragon]

5. I am on a mission to fill all the republican private prisons with republicans, idiots, and bigots

[COLGATE4]

6. You'll have to build a whole bunch

of new prisons...

[kairos12]

7. Devil's Island would not have them.

[CrispyQ]

9. Not if we let the pot smokers out first.

However, on edit, there do seem to be an infinite number of morans out there. ~sigh.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Post a copy of the lawsuit

It's out there somewhere.

[cbayer]

10. Lol, is that an order, sir? Feel free to find it and post it.

I can't find it on the FFRF website, btw.

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. There. That was easy.

http://ffrf.org/uploads/legal/FFRFvPlowmanComplaint.pdf

[cbayer]

13. One caveat for others - this is a big pdf file that takes a very long time to download,

if your connection is slow (like mine).

Anyway, thanks for the link.

[rug]

17. I like the lawyer's name.

http://katherinegodinlaw.com/kates-bio/

[kestrel91316]

12. Wow. Did somebody get up on the wrong side of the bed???

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. No, but when it was posted last week

at least we could see specifics of the lawsuit.

This is a critical part of the story, would you agree?

[cbayer]

15. It wasn't posted in this group and generally if someone wants to read or share

additional information, they are more than welcome to do that.

As you said, it was easy to find. I just didn't see any burning need to do so.

FWIW, a lot of people never even get past the headlines in this group.

Your command did seem a little harsh.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. Next time I'll say "please" or "kindly".

I still maintain without the lawsuit particulars, the story is really incomplete