Illinois Fines Inn $80,000 for Refusing to Host Civil Union Ceremony

The Illinois Human Rights Commission levied an $80,000 fine on an inn that refused to host a civil-union ceremony for a same-sex couple.

When Todd and Mark Wathen reached out to the TimberCreek Bed & Breakfast about hosting their ceremony, TimberCreek owner Jim Walder emailed them, “homosexuality is immoral and unnatural,” according to the Amercian Civil Liberties Union.

An administrative law judge with the commission ordered the bed and breakfast to pay the Wathens for emotional distress as well as covering attorney fees on Tuesday.

“We are very happy that no other couple will have to experience what we experienced by being turned away and belittled and criticized for who we are,” Todd Wathen said, according to Reuters.

[Reuters]

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