A family farm in Michigan is being blocked from their community’s city-run farmer’s market, because the Tennes family who owns the farm happens to hold a biblical view of marriage.
Family Research Council writes,
When two women asked to be married on [Country Mill farm] in 2014, the Tennes turned them down, explaining that because of their faith, they referred same-sex couples to neighboring farms. Two years later, the couple decided to launch a social media smear campaign, urging people to stay away from Country Mill. When their post was brought to East Lansing’s attention, local leaders raced to pass an ordinance directly targeting small business owners like the Tenneses.
Country Mill Farms has participated in the city’s farmer’s market without incident for at least six years. As a result of this new ordinance, the farm was blocked from selling produce at the market this year.
It’s worth noting this is not the first time a family farm has been punished for holding a biblical view of marriage. In 2014 a New York farm was fined $13,000 for declining to host a same-sex wedding ceremony on its property.
No one should be targeted by the government for their religious convictions, but that’s what we are seeing here. Country Mill Farms has teamed up with attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom to take East Lansing to court over its new policy. Hopefully, this new policy will be reversed and religious liberty will be respected.
