KENNEWICK — Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts, the Richland shop that lost a sprawling legal fight after its owner refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding, has a new LGBTQ+ friendly owner.
Kim Solheim purchased Arlene’s from Barronelle Stutzman a year ago.
Solheim said she is starting a new chapter that puts the fractious history in the past. Today’s Arlene’s is inclusive, safe and welcoming to all customers, she said.
That specifically means LGBTQ customers and same-sex and queer weddings. Solheim said she will happily provide bouquets and corsages for all celebrations, including lesbian, gay and other weddings.
“I want people to come in an experience the space and the energy. It is very special,” said Solheim, who spent the past year putting her imprint on the business, at 1177 Lee Blvd.
She’s changed the decor and is working to cut waste, be more eco-friendly and to develop relationships with women-owned businesses.
Google: LGBTQ+ friendly
Shortly after purchasing Arlene’s, she set its Google profile to “LGBTQ+ friendly,” quietly signaling a new start unbounded by Stutzman’s deeply held Christian views on gay marriage.
This week, she turned up the volume.
She released a statement on June 15 — midway through Pride Month — declaring her commitment to creating an inclusive space where Tri-Citians can find rainbow-themed arrangements to celebrate Pride, red-themed ones for Juneteenth and gifts for Father’s Day.
Solheim told the Tri-City Herald she was nervous about promoting her message in such a conservative community. An advisor encouraged her to lean into the change.
She’s mindful that her message could set off the sort of backlash that turned some customers against Bud Light and Target, after each expressed support for LGBTQ customers.
“Am I afraid of that? I guess part of me is. It’s real. It’s stupid,” she said. “How neglectful to the human experience is that?”
Troubled path
Solheim’s grew up in Eltopia and moved to Pasco, where she attended Pasco High School.
She followed a troubled path into adulthood. She said she gained sympathy for marginalized people because she personally did what she had to as a teen and young adult to survive.
Now preparing to turn 55, she said there are elements of her life that she regrets and others that she’s proud of. Her history left her committed to treating everyone with dignity, and living the message drilled into her as a child: Everyone is a child of God.
“If that’s true, nothing else matters,” she said.
Different people
She draws a sharp line between herself and Stutzman, the woman at the center of a sprawling legal fight over religious liberty and Washington’s state law ensuring freedom from discrimination.
Tri-City residents Curt Freed and Robert Ingersoll sued with help from the American Civil Liberties Union after Stutzman declined to provide flowers for their wedding. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson later sued as well.
The Washington State Supreme Court twice ruled she violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination, first on appeal from Benton County Superior Court and later on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Stuzman abandoned the case in 2021 when the U.S. Supreme Court denied her request for review. She invited Solheim to buy the business soon after.
Solheim also rents the building from Stutzman, a common retirement strategy for small business owners.
Solheim said she’s grateful to her former boss for hiring her despite her history and then selling her the business.
That said, “I am not Barronnelle.”
PFLAG ‘thrilled’
PFLAG Benton/Franklin, which supports LGBTQ individuals, their families and friends, received a $10,000 donation when the case was settled — $5,000 from Stutzman and a $5,000 match from Freed and Ingersoll.
The settlement money supports small grants for nonmedical gender affirming care, such as purchasing binders, makeup, undergarments and toiletries, said Carly Coburn, who recently completed a four-year term as chair.
Coburn said the local PFLAG chapter is “thrilled” that Arlene’s new owner is expressing support for the community. Members are eager to visit and learn more.
“Once in a while we do get the proper arc for justice for the community and for equity,” she said.
Coburn said she believes Solheim is sincere in her welcoming message.
“We do find what she says to be genuine. We believe her,” she said.
Keeping ‘Arlene’s’
Solheim said she considered changing the name of Arlene’s, but decided to embrace a history that is greater than the most recent chapter.
Solheim is the fourth owner for the business founded by its namesake, Arlene Douglas, who sold it to to Stutzman’s mother, Dottie, in 1978. She, in turn, passed it to her daughter.
Solheim said there’s more to the Arlene’s story than the most recent controversy.
The business is a beloved destination for flowers for generations, a history she wants to honor. She wants to reclaim that history, recalling one couple celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary.
Arlene’s provided the original wedding flowers and they were determined it would provide the anniversary ones too, she said.
She’s had customers come in preparing to berate staff. She hopes those days are gone.
“I’m not about that. I will serve anyone who comes in.”
