Nine years after telling a gay couple she could not prepare a flower arrangement for their wedding because of her religious beliefs, the owner of a flower shop in Washington state has agreed to pay $5,000 to settle the dispute and withdraw her long-shot bid to get the U.S.
Supreme Court to rule in her favor. The issue, however, has not gone away. The Alliance Defending Freedom group that helped Arlene's Flowers owner Barronelle Stutzman with her effort to circumvent Washington state laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation has other cases queued up.
One is in the U.S. Supreme Court; the other is likely to land there next year. But the November 18 announcements by ADF and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented