A federal judge ruled Monday that the city of East Lansing, Michigan, cannot prohibit a local Catholic businessman from participating in a farmer’s market because it violates his faith beliefs to host same-sex weddings on his farm’s property.
In his opinion in Country Mill Farms, LLC v. City of East Lansing, Judge Paul Maloney of U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan, Southern Division, ruled, “The City has not established that the decision to deny CMF [Country Mill Farms] a vendor license is narrowly tailored to meet a compelling government interest.”
The case dates back to 2017 when the non-profit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of Country Mill Farms (CMF) owner Steve Tennes after officials excluded Tennes from the farmer’s market because of his faith beliefs.
“Steve and his family-run Country Mill Farms happily serve all customers as a valued vendor at East Lansing’s farmer’s market, and he’s grateful he can continue his longtime partnership with the city and its residents,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson in a statement Tuesday. “The district court’s decision rightly protects Steve’s freedom to operate his business according to his convictions. Country Mill has continued to participate in the farmer’s market without issue during this litigation.”
Tennes had posted on Facebook that he is Catholic and follows the Church’s teachings that assert marriage is between a man and a woman. His decision to offer his farm property to wedding couples includes that teaching.
As ADF noted, East Lansing city officials enacted a policy to ban Tennes and his farm from participating as a vendor in the city’s farmer’s market.
“The city used a discretionary system of individual assessments to ban only Tennes from market participation, even though Tennes and his family farm have always served everyone at the farmer’s market and have never received any complaints against them,” ADF explained. “Additionally, their farm is in Charlotte, 22 miles from East Lansing, well outside the city’s boundaries and jurisdiction.”
The judge, an appointee of George W. Bush, wrote the city’s decision to prohibit Tennes and his farm from participating in the market “constituted a burden on Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs,” and added:
Plaintiffs were forced to choose between following their religious beliefs and a government benefit for which they were otherwise qualified. Defendant justified the decision on the Vendor Guidelines and the City’s nondiscrimination ordinance. The application of the Vendor Guidelines functioned as an individualized assessment and not a generally applicable policy. The nondiscrimination ordinance contains several objective, nondiscretionary exemptions that would allow the same discrimination that provide the justification for excluding Plaintiffs. And, the ordinance contains several discretionary exemptions that renders the ordinance not generally applicable. Under these circumstances, the City must meet strict scrutiny review. In light of the nondiscretionary and the discretionary exemptions in the ordinance, the City has not demonstrated a compelling interest in excluding Plaintiffs from the Farmer’s Market.
“Tennes and Country Mill Farms are grateful for the court’s decision protecting religious liberty,” ADF’s Anderson said. “At the same time, they are eager to mend fences with current city officials and get back to doing what Country Mill does best—as expressed in its mission statement: ‘glorifying God by facilitating family fun on the farm and feeding families.’”
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Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Country Mills Farms” by ADF.
