- Associated Press - Tuesday, July 19, 2011

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A Vermont inn violated state anti-discrimination rules by refusing to host the wedding reception for two New York City women, the couple said in a lawsuit Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union’s Vermont chapter on behalf of Kate Baker and Ming Linsley, said the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville turned away the couple last fall and that at least two other same-sex couples were also refused because the inn’s owner has a “no-gay-reception policy.”

“When the Wildflower Inn told us last fall that they don’t host gay receptions, we were obviously saddened and shocked,” said Ms. Baker. “It was frustrating to be treated like lesser than the rest of the society, and we were also surprised that it happened in Vermont.”

Vermont has been a pioneer in gay rights, creating the concept of civil unions for same-sex couple in 2000. In 2009, it legalized gay marriage. Many of its tourism businesses actively market to gay clientele.

The inn’s owners, Jim and Mary O’Reilly, issued a statement saying they are devout Catholics who believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.

“We have never refused rooms or dining or employment to gays or lesbians,” they wrote. “Many of our guests have been same-sex couples. We welcome and treat all people with respect and dignity. We do not however, feel that we can offer our personal services wholeheartedly to celebrate the marriage between same-sex couples because it goes against everything that we as Catholics believe in.”

The innkeepers said they never spoke to Ms. Baker and Ms. Linsley, but that the inn’s wedding coordinator “did not handle the couple’s request in the manner that it should have been.”

Ms. Baker, 31, and Ms. Linsley, 34, who live in Brooklyn, said at a Statehouse news conference Tuesday that they have since found another location for the reception but that they filed suit on principle.

The lawsuit accuses the inn of violating the state Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, which bars public accommodations from denying services to people based on sexual orientation, and asks a judge to bar the Wildflower Inn from excluding gays.

The Wildflower Inn had turned away same-sex business as early as 2005, according to the ACLU.

“It’s not a one-time misunderstanding,” said Joshua Block, a lawyer for the ACLU’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender project.

“This is a discrimination case,” he said. “It would be no different if you owned a store and said we don’t want to sell clothes to you or give you food or any other public accommodation. The fact that it’s occurring in a new context shouldn’t affect the way we think about it.”

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