A Christian minister, Kristi Stokes, the owner of Covenant Weddings LLC, filed suit in an Ohio federal district court this week challenging the constitutionality of Cuyahoga County, Ohio's public accommodation ordinance (
full text) which which makes it illegal for any public accommodation to
discriminate against, or treat differently any person except for reasons applicable alike to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, military status, national origin, disability, age, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression...
The complaint (
full text) in
Covenant Weddings LLC v. Cuyahoga County, (ND OH, filed 7/22/2020) alleges in part:
The County ... cannot rescind religious liberty and free speech by relabelling them discrimination....
Through Covenant Weddings, Kristi personally officiates and writes custom homilies, vows, and prayers for weddings...
The Accommodations Clause forces Kristi to provide her wedding services for same-sex wedding ceremonies or for wedding ceremonies where a marrying individual identifies as the opposite sex and would require Kristi to proclaim messages and to participate in religious ceremonies that violate her religious beliefs, which she cannot do....
This undercuts Kristi’s message (expressed elsewhere in her social media accounts and wedding services) celebrating marriage between one man and one woman; harms Kristi’s reputation among her past and prospective clients; undermines her editorial control over what services she offers to the public; and adversely affects Kristi’s ability to share biblical truths about marriage with others....
ADF issued a
press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
