Declining to host same-sex weddings at an apple orchard is not enough to disqualify a Catholic vendor from the farmer’s market in East Lansing, Michigan, a federal district judge ruled Monday.

Country Mill Farms and its owner, Steve Tennes, sued after East Lansing in 2017 required sellers at the open-air market to abide by the same nondiscrimination rules imposed on city contractors. 

Attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom, representing Mr. Tennes and his business in the lawsuit, said the rules were designed “to ban only Tennes from market participation.”

Mr. Tennes said his Catholic faith wouldn’t allow him to host the ceremonies. His attorneys said the apple grower served all customers at the farmer’s market “without issue” as the suit progressed.

City officials imposed the requirement after learning that Country Mill Farms would not host same-sex weddings at its orchard but would instead refer couples to another farm that would do so.

A spokeswoman for East Lansing officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

The issue surfaced in 2016 when Mr. Tennes responded to a question posted on Facebook. He said Country Mill Farms wouldn’t host the ceremonies because of its owner’s faith. 

He wrote the farm “reserves the right to deny a request for services that would require it to communicate, engage in, or host expression that violates the owners’ sincerely held religious beliefs and conscience.”

That online message came to the attention of city officials, one of whom said those beliefs were “‘bigot[ed],’ ‘ridiculous, horrible, [and] hateful,’” according to ADF senior counsel Katie Anderson, who argued the case in 2021 when the suit was filed.

In his opinion, Judge Paul L. Maloney said Mr. Tennes and his firm “were forced to choose between following their religious beliefs and a government benefit for which they were otherwise qualified.”

Citing a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the judge — appointed by President George W. Bush — said forcing Country Mill and Tennes to make such a choice would violate their “free exercise rights. The reason is simple: denying a person an equal share of the rights, benefits, and privileges enjoyed by other citizens because of her faith discourages religious activity.”

Ms. Anderson said the orchard and its owner “are eager to mend fences with current city officials and get back to doing what Country Mill does best—as expressed in its mission statement: ‘glorifying God by facilitating family fun on the farm and feeding families.’”

• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.