Federal judge says Catholic farmer cannot be banned from city market over gay marriage views

A federal judge has temporarily allowed a Catholic farmer, who was banned from the East Lansing city market in Michigan because of his opposition to gay marriage, to resume selling his goods while his case proceeds.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney granted a preliminary injunction to allow Steve Tennes to return to the city's farmers market for the remainder of the 2017 season.

Tennes, owner of Country Mills Farms, was banned from the market in March after city officials learned that he does not allow gay couples to get married at his Eaton County farm near Charlotte.

Maloney said that the city likely violated the Tennes' religious and free speech rights, noting that the officials changed the rules to require vendors to comply with the city's civil rights ordinance, which bars discrimination, after becoming aware of his position on gay marriage.

"The context in which the vendor guidelines were amended and then applied to Country Mill supports plaintiffs' claim that their religious beliefs or their religiously motivated conduct was the target of the city's actions," the judge said, as reported by CBS Sacramento.

According to Lansing State Journal, the farmer's market guidelines had been changed between December and March to include "general business practice" among the areas where its anti-discrimination policy applied for vendors.

On Friday evening, the city of East Lansing released a statement expressing disappointment with the court's ruling.

The city contended that the judge only relied on the plaintiff's complaint and had failed to consider the "contrary facts that were set forth in the Defendant's answer and reply to the Plaintiff's motion."

"At the time of the Court's ruling, the Court also had the benefit of the facts established by the City's Motion to Dismiss. The City will be considering the seeking of a stay and an appeal of the ruling," the statement read, as reported by State News.

Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier argued that the city was not trying to control speech and claimed that Tennes was banned from the farmer's market because of his actions that have been deemed discriminatory.

On Sunday, Country Mill Farms was greeted by a steady stream of customers, along with some protesters, upon its return to the East Lansing Farmer's Market.

David and Jane Lopez drove from Southgate on Sunday morning to purchase apples, donuts and cider from Tennes. David shared his concern that Country Mill's booth will be overwhelmed by protesters.

"That's really not the message we want him to get. We just didn't want him to have a bad experience on his first day back," he said.