This week the owners of Liberty Ridge Farm near Albany, New York, which is rented out for birthday parties and about a dozen weddings each year, have been levied a $10,00 fine and ordered to pay two women $1,500 a piece for not allowing the lesbian couple to have their 2012 wedding ceremony on the property (see earlier story). And similar trouble is brewing in Pennsylvania, where The Cake Pros bakery in Schuylkill Haven and W. W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg likewise declined to be part of same-gender weddings.

Randall Wenger, chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Family Institute, tells OneNewsNow that the owners are Christians who recognize that the Bible expressly condemns homosexual conduct.

“True tolerance should mean that we’re free to live according to our beliefs without being fined or forced out of business,” he submits.

Wenger further points out that “tons” of other businesses in Pennsylvania, where “same-sex marriage” is legal, are willing to accommodate same-gender pairs.

“It’s not as if somebody can’t go out and buy a wedding dress or get a cake baked,” the attorney states. “The issue is whether those who have a conscience against doing so need to be forced to do it to be made an example of, because somehow it’s wrong for us to think differently, believe differently or act differently.”

He goes on to argue that “in America, we should have the freedom to do that.”

Pennsylvania is considering a law that would criminalize actions such as those taken by the two business owners.

This article was originally posted at the OneNewsNow.com website.