Iowa Business Closed Over Same-Sex Marriage Re-Opens as Church
A Christian couple in Iowa who were previously forced to close their business for refusing to allow a same-sex marriage ceremony on their property has sold their venue to a local church.
Richard and Betty Odgaard were fined $5,000 and forced to close their Görtz Haus Gallery, a bistro and gallery, two years ago after being found guilty of discrimination for refusing to allow a same-sex wedding ceremony to be celebrated at their venue.
Although the Odgaard's were forced to close their small business, they recently sold their property to the evangelical Harvest Bible Church so the venue may be used as a house of worship.
Ryan Jorgenson, pastor of the Harvest Bible Church, recently told the Des Moines Register that his congregation is thankful to have received the Odgaard's property.
"We fully support the stand that the Odgaards have made with their building and with their business," the pastor said. "But our biggest thing by far is we want to be known as a church that loves Jesus. We preach and teach the Bible fully. We want to be a blessing to our community."
After the Menonite couple was forced to stop performing all weddings at their venue two years ago, the couple told the Des Moines Register that despite the unfortunate ruling, they were still going to stand strong in their faith.
"Our faith hasn't changed," Betty said at the time. "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."
