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Farmer Claims Opposition To Same-Sex Marriage Got Him Banned From Market

Steve Tennes is suing the city of East Lansing for encroaching on his "religious liberty."

A Michigan farmer says he was banned from selling his goods at a local farmer's market because of his stance on marriage equality.

Steve Tennes, who owns Country Mill farms, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of East Lansing alleging that he'd been barred from the farmer's market because of his Christian belief that marriage is between a man and woman.

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The farmer is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit that has made a business out of defending the "religious freedom" of discriminatory entrepreneurs. Past clients include a homophobic florist and an anti-LGBT cake maker.

In the suit, Tennes claims East Lansing attempted to exclude him from the market last year on the grounds that his beliefs on marriage violated the city's human rights ordinance. According to him, officials specifically mentioned a comment made on his farm's Facebook page blasting same-sex marriage.

While the city was ultimately unsuccessful in getting him banned, a revised version of the East Lansing non-discrimination ordinance made it possible to exclude him this year. The updated measure requires all those seeking to do business in the city to not discriminate against LGBT individuals, something Tennes did this past fall when he refused to let a lesbian couple marry on his property.

“It remains our deeply held religious belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and Country Mill has the First Amendment Right to express and act upon its beliefs," Tennes wrote at the time, justifying his refusal to serve the LGBT community.

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Though Mayor Mark Meadows maintains this is why he's been barred, Tennes' defense is focusing instead on the narrative that he's being discriminated against because of personal views expressed on social media.

"All Steve wants to do is sell his food to anyone who wants to buy it, but the city isn’t letting him," ADF attorney Kate Anderson said. "People of faith, like the Tennes family, should be free to live and work according to their deeply held beliefs without fear of losing their livelihood. If the government can shut down a family farmer just because of the religious views he expresses on Facebook... then no American is free."

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