In his response to Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (Courier-Herald 8/1/2018), your columnist ended by stating “It might seem to you that the rights of one group of Americans, gay people, were now being put above other’s religious rights under the 1st Amendment. Your civil rights have been trampled upon to protect another group from discrimination. What irony!”

It appears your columnist would have us believe that the 1st Amendment allows a person or any religious group to impose their religious beliefs upon others. Many of our European ancestors fled to America because they were being persecuted by countries and religious groups that could not abide their desire for freedom to worship and follow their own beliefs. The 1st Amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” To then allow any person or group to inflict its particular religious beliefs upon others would clearly deny our right to freely worship and follow our own beliefs.

In his same response, he paints a picture of the florist taking her loyal customer, Rob, who has purchased flowers from her for nine years, gently into her arms to tell him that her service of providing custom arrangements for his wedding would violate her belief that gay marriage is a sin against her god. How cruel, how demeaning and what irony!

Dick Hughes

Enumclaw