Conservative ministers in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho are continuing to fight against what they see as government oppression. According to a press release from the Alliance Defending Freedom, Donald and Evelyn Knapp have been threatened with “months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines” for failing to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.
According to the formal complaint, “each day the Knapps decline to perform a requested same-sex wedding ceremony, they commit a separate and distinct misdemeanor, subject to…penalties.”
Same-sex marriage became legal in the state of Idaho just last week.
One of the attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom has said, “The government exists to protect and respect our freedoms, not attack them. The city cannot erase these fundamental freedoms and replace them with government coercion and intolerance.”
The couple has made their position clear for some time.
“I think the Bible is pretty clear that homosexuality is not his way, and therefore I cannot unite people in a way that I believe would conflict with what the Bible teaches,” said Donald Knapp to KXLY-TV.
Attorney for the city of Coeur d’Alene, Warren Wilson, said, “For profit wedding chapels are in a position now where last week the ban would have prevented them from performing gay marriages, this week gay marriages are legal, pending an appeal to the 9th Circuit.”
“If you turn away a gay couple, refuse to provide services for them, then in theory you violated our code and you’re looking at a potential misdemeanor citation,” he said.
