Property
owners' free exercise of religion ruling: Anchorage
by the Editors at ReligionToday.com
January 15, 1999
Religious landlords in Alaska
can refuse to rent to unmarried
couples, the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, meeting in San
Francisco, ruled Jan. 14.
The ruling applies to several other
Western states and could
override their state housing
discrimination laws.
...The 2-1 decision was
a victory for two landlords in Anchorage
who refused to rent rooms
to unmarried couples because it
offended their religious
beliefs, news reports said. Circuit
Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain
said the law interfered with property
owners' free exercise of
religion. Attorney Clyde Wadsworth, who
filed a brief on behalf
of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, a
homosexual-rights group,
said lesbian and homosexual couples
"will be swallowed up by
that exception by landlords who claim a
religious exemption," the
Los Angeles Times said. The U.S.
Supreme Court ruled against
a California landlord in a similar
case last year.
"Reprinted with permission
from Religion Today, http://www.ReligionToday.com."
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