The Washington State Supreme Court defended its previous hearing on Thursday, against a florist who declined to offer flowers for a gay wedding event. On the basis of the religious ground, the florist refused to provide flowers for the wedding.

State courts did not behave with animosity over religion while ruling the case. The Tri-Cities florist violated the anti-discrimination law of the state by declining to provide services on the religious ground; the Washington State Supreme Court finally ruled Arlene’s flowers case.

Washington’s Legal Director of the ACLU, Emily Chiang said, I believe what we’re watching is a lower court cases pattern wherein you have most of the things from bakeries to photographers, you hear, cake designers, all kind of people offer wedding services who are claiming a constitutional right not to have to serve all.

The court has upheld its earlier opinion of 2017, the case which was ruled against florist Barronelle Stutzman and her flowers business of Arlene in the south-central city, Richland.

She had challenged the case in the United States Supreme Court; the Supreme Court transferred the case back to state court in the previous year.  The case was to determine whether the judgments in the case had broken the United States Constitution’s guarantee of religious neutrality.

When the court was ruling the case on Thursday and said, nor the Benton County Superior Court, and the Washington Supreme Court behaved with religious animosity, the judgments of the courts were against the florist said florist broke the discrimination law of the Washington State.

Florist Stutzman declined to offer flowers to the gay couple, and she was discriminating the couple on sex orientation basis.

Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud statement read we believe the court has solved the issue with tolerance and we find no other reason to change our initial decision.

Attorney General Praises Decision

The Attorney General of Washington, Bob Ferguson, who had filed the lawsuit against Stutzman and her florist business back in 2013, appreciated the verdict of the court.

Ferguson responded to the court’s hearing saying gay couples are protected by the Washington state law from discrimination on the grounds of sex orientation, similar to the way it safeguards citizens of Washington from discrimination on the basis of their religion, military status or veteran, race, disability, and other protected classes.

Stutzman to Appeal in US Supreme Court

Stutzman, the florist over a conference call with reporters after the court’s verdict on Thursday, said, My faith allows me to show love and respect to everyone and I have done the best to hold on to my beliefs in my business. I never refused anyone based on who they are. This case is not just about me. It regards everyone’s freedom to live their belief without any fear of punishment by the government.

Stutzman’s Attorney responded to this verdict and said that they will now request the United States Supreme Court to investigate the Stutzman’s case.

“Without even holding an oral argument, the state court came back with the same result, repeating verbatim much of what it said in its original decision rather than reconsidering the case as the US Supreme Court directed,” In a statement, Stutzman’s Attorneys mentioned.

Chiang mentioned it’s up to the US Supreme Court to decide whether to take the case or not. Bob Ferguson mentioned in a post on Twitter that he will continue to support these laws and fight to protect citizens of Washington’s against discrimination.