Wildflower Inn

The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's Vermont chapter on behalf of Kate Baker and Ming Linsley, said the couple was turned away last fall because of the inn's owner has a "no-gay-reception policy."

According to the complaint, Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville, Vermont refused to host a wedding reception for New York couple Kate Baker and Ming Linsley because of the owners' personal bias against same-sex couples.

It was Linsley's mother who was told the inn does not host "gay receptions," particularly stinging to a mom trying to help her daughter plan the special day, the couple said.

According to the suit, at least two other couples have been turned away by the resort in the past 12 months.

Reuters

According to the ACLU, the Vermont Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act prohibits public accommodations from denying goods and services based on customers’ sexual orientation. The law applies to inns, restaurants, schools, stores, and any other business that serves the general public.

The act contains exceptions for religious organizations and small inns with five or fewer rooms, bu the ACLU asserts the Wildflower Inn fits neither category. The inn is a multimillion-dollar public business whose slogan is “Four Seasons for Everyone!”

The inn's owners, Jim and Mary O'Reilly, issued a statement saying they are devout Catholics who believe in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.

Lisa Miller (left) and Janet Jenkins

According to court documents, the FBI arrested Timothy David Miller in Alexandria, Virginia, on charges that he aided in the international parental kidnapping of Isabella Miller-Jenkins by one of her two mothers, Lisa Miller.

The FBI statement says Lisa Miller took her child to Mexico in September 2009 “with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights by Janet Jenkins,” her former civil union partner. The statement says Timothy Miller provided assistance with Lisa Miller’s travel from the U.S. to Toronto and then to Mexico City, and provided shelter for her. The Millers then continued on to Managua, Nicaragua, later that month.

A warrant for Lisa Miller’s arrest was issued in April 2010.

Sarah Star, a Vermont attorney representing Jenkins, said Friday that, despite Timothy Miller’s arrest, “We still don’t know where they are now.”

Jenkins issued a statement saying she hopes “Isabella is safe and well” and that she is looking forward to “having my daughter home safe with me very soon.”

But Star said she was not sure what measures might be available to law enforcement officials to attempt to locate and extradite Lisa Miller back to the United States.

The FBI indicated it has not established whether Lisa Miller is related to Timothy Miller. Timothy Miller reportedly lived in Crossville, Tennessee, and has a wife and four children. But evidence suggests he and the family were living in Nicaragua in November 2008. The Rutland Herald, a Vermont daily newspaper, said Timothy Miller worked as missionary in Nicaragua.

According to one FBI affidavit, the “Lynchburg Christian Academy Payroll Account” provided “multiple payroll checks to Lisa Miller. The Academy is an affiliate of the late Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church.

The FBI documents indicate agents believe Lisa Miller was going by the name Sarah, and that her daughter was being referred to as Lydia.

A Vermont judge transferred full custody of the daughter to Jenkins in November 2009, after Lisa Miller failed to comply with a court order that she allow Jenkins visitation with the child.

The Miller-Jenkins case took on national prominence after Lisa Miller moved from Vermont to Virginia in an effort to use Virginia’s newly enacted law banning recognition of same-sex relationships as leverage in her battle to prevent Jenkins from having visitation. But Virginia courts, including the state supreme court, ruled that the federal kidnapping law trumps Virginia’s “Marriage Affirmation Act” and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In 2003, Lisa Miller renounced homosexuality and became an evangelical Christian. Isabella Miller turned 9 this month.

Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan (pictured) were among the the first same-sex couples to legally marry under the new law that took effect at 12 a.m. September 1.

Slimback and Sullivan have been together for 17 years and live in Whitehall, New York. The couple couldn't legally marry in New York so they chose to exchange vows in Vermont.

Vermont legalized gay marriage earlier this year after state lawmakers overrode Governor Jim Douglas' veto of the same-sex marriage bill by a 100 to 49 vote in the state House and 23 to 5 vote in the state Senate. It is the first state to approve gay marriage through legislation and not a court ruling.

Vermont became the first state to give civil recognition to gay and lesbian couples when it established civil unions in the state in 2000. At the time, the law granted same-sex partners the most comprehensive domestic partner benefits in the nation, qualifying them for more than 300 rights and benefits available to married couples in the state.

The other U.S. states that have approved gay marriage laws are Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. New Hampshire's law will take effect January 1, 2010.

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But officials are not expecting a rush to the altar.

The landscape has changed since 2000, when lawmakers passed the civil union legislation, making Vermont the first in the nation to offer some sort of legal recognition for same-sex couples. Gays and lesbians from across the country - but especially New England - flocked to Vermont.

After the civil unions law took effect July 1, 2000, there were 1,704 civil unions established in the next six months, including 405 in July alone. Out-of-state residents accounted for 78 percent of them, most involving couples from New York, Massachusetts and California, according to the state's vital records. Nearly 69 percent were between female partners.

But since then, neighboring states have gone further. Massachusetts led the pack by allowing same-sex couples to start marrying in 2005, followed by Connecticut and New Hampshire in New England, and Iowa later followed suit.

The slow start to the same-sex marriage law may also be rooted in timing. When the Legislature adopted the law in April, it set Sept. 1 as the effective date, thereby missing out on the summer wedding season.

Greg Trulson, a Duxbury Justice of the Peace who says he has several gay marriages lined up, said, "What I have found, that a lot of the gay marriages that I'm officiating now starting after September first are other civil unions that I have officiated in the past. And they're coming back to get married -- and what we're finding is they're coming back on the day of their civil union, to keep the same day for their marriage."

In April, the Vermont legislature passed the gay marriage law when the House and Senate voted to override Gov. James Douglas's veto of the measure.

In honor of the new rights for gay and lesbian couples, Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream is marking the occasion in typically sweet fashion. They’re renaming their "Chubby Hubby" flavor "Hubby Hubby" for the month.