BUCKHANNON — Today, City Hall allowed public access to Ordinance 434 that seeks to prohibit Christians from refusing to cater to same-sex wedding ceremonies, and homosexual pride organizations. The ordinance states in Article 3 and Article 5 that if a business declines to provide a public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, they will be penalized by the city and fined up to $500 for the first offence, $1,000 for the second offence, and $1,500 for the third or subsequent violations.
While there is an “exemption” for churches, this is an extremely weak exemption. It does not apply to all non-profit organizations, which is the status that most religious organizations are registered as with the Federal Government. This could ultimately result in local churches being forced to defend their status as a church, but the opposing argument would be labeling the religious organizations as merely existing solely as a non-profit. Whereas, this ordinance’s exemption would not be applied to non-profit organizations.
Additionally, Christian radio stations, Christian schools, Christian bookstores and Christian owned businesses would not be exempt from this ordinance.
Forcing individuals to provide services and perform tasks is a clear violation of the 13th Amendment and was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Masterpiece Cake Shop vs. Colorado.
Article 5 establishes that the City of Buckhannon’s Municipal Court will have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide all maters pertaining to alleged violations of this ordinance, and the City’s Municipal Court will be able to provide enforcement.
In Article 7, it attempts to limit the power of the Judicial system by expressing, “In the event that any provision of this ordinance is determined to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid by a court excising competent jurisdiction such determination shall not affect the validity of this ordinance either as a whole or the provisions thereof which are not specifically determined to be unconstitutional or invalid.”
According to the American Center for Law and Justice, “Federal and State laws protect the religious freedoms of employees and employers. Employers can run their business in conformance with godly principles and employees cannot be forced to act in a manner that conflicts with their religious beliefs. In short, there is no law requiring the workplace to be a religion-free zone. ”
Nevertheless, this ordinance attempts to establish all businesses as being “religion-free zones,” forcing Christian business owners to violate their religious convictions, catering to same-sex weddings and homosexuality festivals.
In New Mexico, Christian photographers Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin were fined almost $7,000 for refusing to photograph the same-sex commitment ceremony of two lesbian-identified women. The city’s non-discrimination ordinance required them to attend same-sex wedding ceremonies, regardless of their religious beliefs, establishing that they could not refuse their business services to people on the basis of their sexual orientation. This ruling commanded two devout Christians to attend a same-sex wedding ceremony against their wills, or face fines and potential imprisonment.
The ordinance proposed by Mayor David McCauley is stronger than many of the ordinances proposed in West Virginia and surrounding states. It will unquestionably result in animosity toward Christians and make faith-based businesses targets of LGBT activists.
If the first reading of the ordinance passes on January 3rd, a second and final reading would be scheduled for council’s January 17th meeting.
Why are there 3 people on this council who support this type of blatantly unconstitutional ordinance in the city of Buckhannon? Why are there 3 people on this counsel who are blatantly anti-christian and anti-religious freedom? Buckhannon residents must take note of these 3 council members names and remember them come next election so they can be removed and stop this type of anti-American behavior and to make this Mayor unemployed by the state of WV.