Christian couple fined $80,000 for refusing gay wedding in B&B
The Christian couple who refused to host a gay wedding in their establishment in 2011 has been fined more than $80,000.
On March 29, the Illinois Human Rights Commission ordered TimberCreek Bed & Breakfast, owned by Jim and Beth Walder, to pay Todd and Mark Wathen $15,000 each for emotional distress. They also have to shoulder attorneys' fees of $50,000 plus $1,218.35 for other expenses.
"We are very happy that no other couple will have to experience what we experienced by being turned away and belittled and criticized for who we are," said Todd in a statement posted on Windy City Times. "In addition, the monetary award represents a recognition by the judge that Mark and I suffered a real harm, that we were embarrassed and humiliated."
Despite this, the Walders are firm in their stance.
"To be absolutely clear, we cannot host a same-sex wedding even though fines and penalties have been imposed by the IL Human Rights Commission," the couple said in a statement, posted on The Huffington Post. "Our policy will not be changing."
The lawsuit came after Jim declined to accommodate the Wathens, who wanted to hold their civil union in the bed-and-breakfast, located in Paxton, south of Chicago.
According to LifeSite News, Jim sent an email telling the Wathens that they would "never host same-sex weddings even if they become legal in Illinois." He explained their belief in what the Bible says, that "homosexuality is wrong and unnatural."
"If this is discrimination, I guess we unfortunately discriminate," he said.
The Walders are holding fast to their belief. For them, it was God who created marriage and it is meant as a union between a man and a woman, not between two men or two women.
"In our opinion, neither the state of Illinois nor the U.S. Supreme Court has the authority to tamper with the definition of marriage," they said.
