Part 6. What comes after same-sex marriage? You only have to look to the countries that have already redefined the institution to get an idea.
When Steve Tennes, owner of Country Mill Farms, expressed his personal view of marriage on his Facebook page, East Lansing city officials responded by banning him from selling at the 2017 city farmers markets. The Facebook post came about when an unknown individual inquired about a past incident where Tennes referred a same-sex couple to an orchard willing to host homosexual celebrations.
For a time, Country Mill Farm stop hosting weddings altogether, but the officials still weren’t satisfied. The city’s attorney said, “This is not about speech and it’s not about religion. It’s about discrimination.”
But to Tennes, it’s about much more: “Government officials should never be allowed to ban citizens from participating in any aspect of public life simply because that person said something the city doesn’t like. The city of East Lansing is asking us to choose between the peaceful expression of our beliefs and our livelihood. No one should face that choice.”
