Grimes' Gortz Haus to stop all weddings in wake of discrimination complaint

The Mennonite owners of a Grimes gift shop and bistro who attracted controversy for preventing a same-sex couple from holding their wedding at the venue have put an end to litigation over the issue, but will no longer hold weddings for any couples.

Lee Stafford and Jared Ellers filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission after the owners of the Gortz Haus Gallery, Betty and Richard Odgaard, denied the same-sex couple an opportunity to get married at the 77-year-old gallery that once housed a Lutheran church.

Betty Odgaard said after the complaint was publicized that the gallery's gift shop and bistro have always served gays and lesbians, but that hosting a same-sex wedding would be against the family's religious beliefs.

In a December agreement, the Odgaards agreed to pay the same-sex couple a total of $5,000 to settle the civil rights complaint. The Odgaards also agreed that they could not discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation. That provision has led them to stop hosting all weddings, Betty Odgaard told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday.

"Our faith hasn't changed," she said. "Of course, it's kind of a crushing blow because that's a major part of our business and weddings are so absolutely gorgeous in that place."

Odgaard said the Gortz Haus has typically hosted 15 to 20 weddings on a yearly basis. Additionally, the couple will stop catering and providing flowers to all weddings. The couple made the decision voluntarily because continuing to hold weddings could make them a target for future discrimination lawsuits, Odgaard said.

Donna Red Wing, executive director of LGBT advocacy group One Iowa, said she respects the Odgaards' religious beliefs, but was disappointed to hear about the decision to stop hosting weddings. It was the correct decision, though, if the couple remains unwilling to host ceremonies for same-sex couples, as Iowa law bars businesses that offer services to the public from discrimination, she said.

"I think it's sad that people have to make a decision like that," she said. "I'm really sad that their beautiful facility is no longer going to have any weddings at all, but if they're not going to allow same-gender weddings, they really can't allow any."

The Odgaards have dismissed a lawsuit they filed against the Iowa Civil Rights Commission that claimed their religious freedom was being violated, said Eric Baxter, an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty who represented the Odgaards. After refusing to host a wedding for Stafford and Ellers, the Odgaards became a target for "hateful and threatening emails," according to the lawsuit they filed. Betty Odgaard told the Register in October 2013 that people were boycotting the gallery.

Odgaard said Wednesday that she's concerned about the gallery's future without the wedding business, but that litigation could not continue to go on "forever."

"It had to end, and there was not going to be any good ending," she said. "(It was) better resolved than not."

The settlement that the Ogaards reached with Stafford and Ellers allowed the business owners to deny any wrongdoing under Iowa law. The settlement was first reported Wednesday in the alternative weekly newspaper Cityview.