They still have children at home and they feel that their rights are being violated and they re bein

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Jennie McCarthy, left, and Melisa Erwin, right, sit in an ice cream parlor in Albany, N.Y. on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The couple has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after they say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay. (Full-size photo) (All photos)
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Two upstate New York women turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay have filed a discrimination complaint, setting up a possible precedent-setting fight involving the state s new same-sex marriage law.
The complaint with the state Division of Human Rights appears to be a first involving a wedding venue since same-sex marriage became legal in New York in July 2011, according to advocates on both sides of the issue. One prominent gay marriage opponent said the case could test the breadth of the law s religious freedom language.
Melisa Erwin and Jennie McCarthy, of Albany, filed the complaint Oct. 11 after the nearby Liberty Ridge Farm said it would not host their wedding next summer. McCarthy said when the owners, Robert and Cynthia Gifford, found out they were a same-sex couple, the women were told there was a problem.
They still have children at home and they feel that their rights are being violated and they re being discriminated against thrifty auto rental because of their position on the issue of gay marriage, said Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a group opposed to gay marriage.
But Lambda Legal senior counsel Susan Sommer said it s well established that a business that serves the public is in violation of New York s human rights law if it discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.
If state officials determine there is a case of discrimination, they can order Liberty Ridge to take appropriate action and can set monetary damages. The division s administrative determination can be appealed thrifty auto rental to state courts.
There is at least one similar court case in New York. In September, a gay couple in Manhattan thrifty auto rental filed a lawsuit against a restaurant they allege canceled their wedding rehearsal dinner and refused thrifty auto rental to cater their wedding after a manager said he did not want any gay parties. The restaurant disputes the claim.
In August, a Vermont inn agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to that state s Human Rights Commission and to place $20,000 in a charitable trust to settle a lawsuit that accused the business of refusing to host a wedding reception for two women.
The answer thrifty auto rental is the same for each: If the courts find as a matter of law that this establishment qualifies for a legally recognized exemption (religious establishment for example) that s one thing. But on the other hand, if you re a business and you choose to open your doors to the public, you can t then pick and choose that public . If you don t want to serve minorities, women, jews or gays open a private club.
And spare us the mooing about, thrifty auto rental See?! See?! We told you; a flood of litigation!! In this country, when people are denied their rights they can sue to regain them. That s something else that can t be allowed or denied based on race, gender, creed or sexual orientation.
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