A tax preparer is defending herself from an onslaught of attacks after she refused to do a married lesbian couple's taxes in Indiana because they planned to file their return jointly.
Bailey and Samantha Brazzel spoke with NBC affiliate WTHR in Russiaville, Indiana and said the woman who has done their taxes in the past would not handle their 2018 return after the pair got married last summer.
"We went in and sat down like we always would and [tax preparer Nancy Fivecoate] said, 'How are you filing this year?' and I said 'married joint,' and that's when it went downhill," Bailey Brazzel said.
Fivecoate, who owns a tax preparation business in the town of roughly 1,100 that is just over an hour north of Indianapolis, said she turned away the couple because they were married. She is now facing fierce criticism online.
"I have prepared [Bailey Brazzel's] taxes for several years," Fivecoate said in a lengthy statement shared with NBC. "This year she came in with her wife, and I declined to prepare the taxes because of my religious beliefs.
"I am a Christian and I believe marriage is between one man and one woman. I was very respectful to them. I told them where I thought she might be able to get her taxes prepared."
Fivecoate said she works with gay clients, just not married gay couples.
The Brazzels have shared their story in the news and on social media, an effort they said is designed to create an awareness of what they claimed is a lack of protections for people in Indiana's LBGT community. Vice President Mike Pence, when he was Indiana governor in 2015, signed into law a religious freedom act that allowed business owners to turn down customers based on legitimate religious reasons.
"We don't have an issue with her," Bailey Brazzel told NBC. "We don't think she's a terrible person. But we're not the only ones this happens to and it's wrong, and something needs to be done about it."
Gay marriage was made legal nationwide after a 2015 Supreme Court ruling.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.