Via Daily Mail:
A florist in eastern Washington state fined $1,000 for refusing to sell a same-sex couple wedding flowers and also facing a consumer-protection lawsuit has netted more than $87,000 in a crowdfunding campaign.
The Seattle Times reports that nearly half of the money on the gofundme.com page set up in February for 70-year-old Barronelle Stutzman came in the last several days.
Supporters compare Stutzman’s benefit page to an Indiana pizza shop that raised more than $800,000 after closing when the owner said the shop wouldn’t cater a gay wedding.
Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts in Richland, Washington, received the fine in Benton County Superior Court in March after refusing to serve same-sex couple Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed in 2013.
When longtime customer Ingersoll came to Arlene’s Flowers and asked for the flowers, the devout Southern Baptist told him her ‘relationship with Jesus Christ’ wouldn’t allow her to do the wedding.
After they were refused flowers, Ingersoll and Freed went ahead with a smaller wedding than they had planned. They got married in their home with 11 guests and flowers from another florist.