Opposed to same-sex marriage, company ends wedding business

[leekohler]

Wow. Rather than take the extra business, they chose this. Well, that's just fine by me.

An Annapolis company whose old-fashioned trolleys are iconic in the city's wedding scene has abandoned the nuptial industry rather than serve same-sex couples.

The owner of Discover Annapolis Tours said he decided to walk away from $50,000 in annual revenue instead of compromising his Christian convictions when same-sex marriages become legal in Maryland in less than a week. And he has urged prospective clients to lobby state lawmakers for a religious exemption for wedding vendors.

While most wedding businesses across the country embraced the chance to serve same-sex couples, a small minority has struggled to balance religious beliefs against business interests.

Wedding vendors elsewhere who refused to accommodate same-sex couples have faced discrimination lawsuits — and lost. Legal experts said Discover Annapolis Tours sidesteps legal trouble by avoiding all weddings.

"If they're providing services to the public, they can't discriminate who they provide their services to," said Glendora Hughes, general counsel for the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. The commission enforces public accommodation laws that prohibit businesses from discriminating on the basis of race, sexual orientation and other characteristics.

The trolley company's decision, publicized by a straight groom offended by what he called "repressive bigotry," offers a snapshot of a local business navigating a new landscape in Maryland's wedding industry, and leaving it behind for a competitor to swoop in.

The head of the Maryland Wedding Professionals Association said the trolley company is the second vendor to refuse business over the state's same-sex marriage law, which voters upheld in November. The Maryland clergyman who led opposition to same-sex marriage called the trolley company's choice to abandon profits on principle "gutsy" and predicted that more businesses would quietly follow suit.

"That's a bold and noble statement," said Derek McCoy, executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance. "The other option would have been just to become a legal case."

Frank Schubert, the political strategist who ran campaigns against same-sex marriage in Maryland and three other states this year, said opponents predicted collateral damage from legalizing same-sex unions.

"This is exactly what happens," Schubert said, adding that religious liberty is "right in the cross hairs of this debate. … The law doesn't protect people of faith. It simply doesn't."

Schubert pointed to a handful of other examples publicized in news reports across the country of wedding vendors sued for refusing to accommodate a same-sex ceremony: a pair of Vermont innkeepers, a New Jersey church group and a New Mexico wedding photographer.

A Christian conservative group financed an appeal in the case in New Mexico — where same-sex marriages are not recognized but, as in Maryland, "public accommodation" laws prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. A lesbian couple tried to hire the photographer for their commitment ceremony, but the photographer's attorneys argued that artists have a constitutional right to refuse to endorse a message they do not support, according to the Religion News Service. Two New Mexico courts have sided with the lesbian couple who sued, and the state's highest court agreed to hear the case.

In Maryland, the gay-rights group Equality Maryland said the trolley company's decision appears to be an isolated case of a business owner exercising his rights.

"As long as he doesn't discriminate against other people, he's free to do what ever he wants to do, including withdrawing his business from the industry," executive director Carrie Evans said.

Discover Annapolis Tours owner Matt Grubbs declined repeated requests to discuss the move, beyond acknowledging its economic impact to his business, which also operates historic tours endorsed by the Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Conference & Visitors Bureau.

Grubbs said he expects to post a full explanation on his company's website by Jan. 1, and confirmed he sent an email to prospective client Chris Belkot last month that said "we used to do weddings until recently. But we're a Christian-owned business, and we are not able to lend support to gay marriages. And as a public accommodation, we cannot discriminate between gay or straight couples, so we had to stop doing all wedding transportation."

Grubbs' message went on to suggest Maryland residents contact their lawmakers to "request they amend the new marriage law to allow an exemption for religious conviction for the layperson in the pew. The law exempts my minister from doing same-sex weddings, and the Knights of Columbus don't have to rent out their hall for a gay wedding reception, but somehow my religious convictions don't count for anything."

Belkot, 31, forwarded Grubbs' email to Annapolis news websites and fired off a response to Grubbs that read, in part, "It is your right to run your business any way you see fit, but let's be honest here, you drive a trolley up and down a street. Not exactly God's work."

Belkot had taken his future wife from their New Jersey home to Annapolis for their first vacation together, betting the historic downtown that charmed him on family trips would enchant his girlfriend, too. Years later, the couple wanted to use Grubbs' trolleys to shuttle wedding guests, but discovered that despite a page showing smiling brides and grooms, Discover Annapolis Tours had opted out.

And while the couple still plans to hold their March 9 wedding in Annapolis, the experience tainted the romantic getaway image they had formed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/b...,4497822.story

[steve knight]

poor little Butthurt idiot. Sorry if your going to hate then suffer.
Christians love to force their beliefs on others but once they can't they scream persecution and get all hurt. Same with hobby lobby.
I tell them cry a river build a bridge and get over it.

[yg17]

Kudos to the editor at the Tribune who decided to use a photo of the bigot polishing a pole

[leekohler]

It's truly sad. A trolley is not a church. I wonder if they also refused Muslim wedding business as well?

[steve knight]

Originally Posted by leekohler

It's truly sad. A trolley is not a church. I wonder if they also refused Muslim wedding business as well?

That's like asking if the pope hates gay people.

[leekohler]

Originally Posted by steve knight

That's like asking if the pope hates gay people.

I suppose. But somehow, I doubt he did.

[steve knight]

Do you mean the pope does not hate gay people or that this idiot would marry Muslims?

[chrono1081]

Good riddance to a bad business.

Caving to this businesses demand is no different then allowing another business to serve only white people.

Discrimination needs to die, I feel no pity what so ever for these pretend Christians to lose their business and the expense of their own hatred.

I'm a Christian and I will always support gay people and gay marriage. If God didn't like gay people he wouldn't have made them.*


*Yes I know a lot of people here don't believe in God but instead of throwing it in my face please keep it civil, I don't want a religious debate I'm just pointing out that those of us who understand and research our Bibles know gay is not a sin.

[steve knight]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

I'm a Christian and I will always support gay people and gay marriage. If God didn't like gay people he wouldn't have made them.*


*Yes I know a lot of people here don't believe in God but instead of throwing it in my face please keep it civil, I don't want a religious debate I'm just pointing out that those of us who understand and research our Bibles know gay is not a sin.

Good for you. god must not mind gay as he made 1500 different species of animals gay.

[Grey Beard]

so the upshot of this melee is that he's a bigoted bus driver. What a twat.

KGB

[steve knight]

Originally Posted by Grey Beard

so the upshot of this melee is that he's a bigoted bus driver. What a twat.

KGB

Don't forget persecuted christian.

[chrono1081]

I don't think this guy, or most Christians who claim to be "persecuted" knows what that really means.

This is a persecuted Christian:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2332690.html

The guy polishing a pole above is not.

[likemyorbs]

Bigotry causing loss of business, I love it.

"We're not free to discriminate? We're being persecuted for being Christian!"