Attorneys for Coeur d'Alene file motion for stay in Hitching Post lawsuit

Attorneys for the City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, are asking a federal court to put a lawsuit on hold that was brought by the owners of a “Hitching Post” marriage “corporation” that refuses to marry same-sex couples.

The motion for a stay of the proceedings was filed Monday after city officials and their attorneys concluded they may be on shaky legal grounds if they attempted to use public accommodation provisions of an anti-discrimination ordinance to force two ordained ministers operating a “religious corporation” to conduct gay marriages.

The motion for the stay says the "parties are working towards a potential mutual resolution short
of litigation," suggesting the city attorneys likely are drafting an agreement saying they won't attempt
to prosecute the Hitching Post if it's now a "religious corporation" as its owners contend.

"Accordingly, the parties hereby request a stay of the current proceedings until any
such resolution discussions are concluded. After which, the parties will inform the Court of any
result and to determine further proceedings, if necessary," the newly filed motion says.

Donald and Evelyn Knapp, who own the Hitching Post in Coeur d’Alene, are represented in the suit by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an Arizona-based religious-right organization involved in a number of suits brought by conservative Christians who say they have a right to discriminate against gays and lesbians. ADF is also working to criminalize gay sex in other countries.

The ADF and the American Family Association – one of the biggest anti-LGBT organizations in the country – recently ran to the aid of the Knapps after they were told they might be subject to prosecution under a year-old Coeur d’Alene city law banning discrimination if they refused to conduct same-sex marriages.

On Sept. 12, the Knapps filed new documents with the Idaho Secretary of State, becoming a “limited liability corporation” known as “Hitching Post Weddings LLC,” public records show.  On Oct. 6, another company the couple owned, DLK Enterprises Inc., was merged with Hitching Post Weddings LLC, also according to public records.

But those legal maneuvers -- apparently designed to limited the couple’s  business liability -- didn’t stop ADF from filing a 63-page lawsuit on Oct. 17 in U.S. District Court against the City of Coeur d’Alene. The residents of Coeur d’Alene and the city’s insurance company will pay the costs of defending the suit.

The American Family Association, meanwhile, also weighed in, claiming the Knapps and their privately owned wedding business were being threatened by “homosexual bullies.”  AFA used its web site and mailing lists to encourage hundreds of its supporters to flood the Coeur d’Alene mayor’s office with phone calls and e-mails.

The suit was filed even though the city had not initiated any legal action against the Hitching Post or its owners.

“This case is about the City of Coeur D’Alene unconstitutionally coercing two Christian ministers, Donald and Evelyn Knapp, to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies at The Hitching Post Wedding Chapel in violation of their religious beliefs, their ordination vows, and their consciences,” the ADF suit alleged.

It contended the city was “imposing a Hobson’s choice on the Knapps through” its city ordinance that bars sexual-orientation discrimination in public accommodations.

“The Knapps can either violate their religious convictions and ministerial vows by performing same-sex wedding ceremonies or follow their religious convictions and vows by declining to perform same-sex ceremonies and face up to 180 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines,” the suit said.

On Oct. 20, Coeur d’Alene City Attorney Mike Gridley wrote a letter to the Knapps, saying “if they are operating as a legitimate not-for-profit religious corporation, then they are exempt from the (discrimination) ordinance like any other church or religious association,” The Coeur d’Alene Press reported.

But the Hitching Post is a for-profit operation run by two ordained ministers who say it’s a “religious corporation.”

Three days later, the city attorney wrote the Knapps a “clarification” letter, saying it was now the city’s position that if the Hitching Post is a “religious corporation” as the Knapps now claim, their refusal to conduct same-sex marriages “would be exempt under the ordinance if a complaint was received by the city.”

The city's new position aligns with that of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

The task force issued a statement saying the ministers operating the Hitching Post “are solely providing a service limited to wedding ceremonies.”

“When they are performing a religious activity like marrying people, ministers have the right to choose which marriages they will solemnize. That’s why we don’t think the public accommodation law applies to ministers making choices about performing marriages,” the human rights task force statement said.