Wedding Chapel Owners Claim In Lawsuit They Were Threatened With Jail Time For Refusing To Host Same-Sex Ceremony

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (CBS Seattle) — The owners of a wedding chapel have filed a lawsuit against an Idaho city after officials allegedly threatened them with jail time and fines for refusing to perform same-sex weddings.

Donald and Evelyn Knapp, who have been married for 47 years, opened the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel in Coeur D’Alene in 1989 as a ministry. They filed a federal lawsuit Friday against Coeur D’Alene after stating city officials tried to force them to perform same-sex weddings.

“The government should not force ordained ministers to act contrary to their faith under threat of jail time and criminal fines,” Jeremy Tedesco, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a press release. “Many have denied that pastors would ever be forced to perform ceremonies that are completely at odds with their faith, but that’s what is happening here – and it’s happened quickly. The city is on seriously flawed legal ground, and our lawsuit intends to ensure that this couple’s freedom to adhere to their own faith as pastors is protected just as the First Amendment intended.”

According to The Spokesman-Review, the Idaho city passed an ordinance in 2013 that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. The ordinance was tested last Friday after the Knapps declined to host a same-sex wedding at their chapel.

The Knapps face up to 180 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines for each day they decline to perform the ceremony, according to their defense team.

“The city somehow expects ordained pastors to slip a switch and turn off all faithfulness to their God and their vows,” Jonathan Scruggs, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a press release. “The U.S. Constitution as well as federal and state law clearly stand against that. The city cannot mandate across-the-board conformity to its interpretation of a city ordinance in utter disregard for the guaranteed freedoms Americans treasure in our society.”

Donald Knapp told The Spokesman-Review in May he couldn’t perform same-sex ceremonies because of his religious views.

“I just can’t break what I believe,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.

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