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GALENA, Ill. • A Wisconsin couple have filed a discrimination charge with the state of Illinois saying that an inn owner refused to host their wedding because they wanted a nonreligious service.
Jonathan Webber and Alexandra Katzman of Eau Claire, Wisc., filed the charge against Bernadine's Stillman Inn in Galena, Illinois, last month with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. They claim the inn's owner, Dave Anderson, denied them service on the basis of their religion. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois is representing them.
The couple paid the inn a deposit for a May 2016 nonreligious wedding but Webber and Katzman said when they went to finalize details, Anderson told them he would permit only a Christian service. Webber is Christian; Katzman is Jewish. She said that would make her family uncomfortable. The couple wanted to hold their wedding at the inn because they stayed there the weekend they were engaged.
"He just kept saying that he wouldn't allow it or he would only allow ceremonies that allow God or religion," Katzman told WGN-TV (http://bit.ly/25hdnN0 ). "He said your wedding is not a good fit."
Katzman said she and Webber, who were married at another venue this month, and the ACLU hope the state will order the inn to cease discrimination.
"It would just be really terrible if this happened to someone else," she said.
Anderson told WGN-TV that he was shocked by the charge. He said he can "only do religious weddings" and blamed a city rule.
"It's a thing with Galena, with the town that we're in," he said, before adding that he wanted to check that and do research. The city said it doesn't get involved in religious matters.
Anderson had no comment when reached by phone Wednesday. He said he is working with an attorney.