Kissimmee HOA lets couple keep religious statues

Article and Video Courtesy of Channel 9 -- Orlando

By Deneige Broom  

Published September 30, 2014

 Watch VIDEO

 

A homeowners association threatened legal action against a Kissimmee family who put a statue of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on their front lawn.

   

Stephen Guschov is an attorney representing the couple that lives in Shingle Creek Reserve in Kissimmee.

“Our clients aren’t asking for any special treatment,” he said.
  
Guschov said the couple applied with their HOA to put the religious statues in their front yard, but they were denied.

  

When they left them in the yard, the HOA threatened a lawsuit, even though we drove around the neighborhood and found several homes with much larger statues.

“If the homeowner’s association wants to allow yard decor, then they allow topless statues and frogs and rabbits and cherubs and everything else, then you can’t say no to religious statues such as the Virgin Mary,” he said.
  

Channel 9 reporter Deneige Broom spoke to a woman who brought her mother’s statue with her from Italy when she moved into the neighborhood in 2011.

She said the HOA told her she didn’t need to apply to have her statue, but about a month ago she got a notice saying her statue was unauthorized.

Her letter didn’t come until after the couple’s battle.

The HOA attorney said the couple’s statues weren’t denied based on religious reasons but rather because only one statue is allowed, and that they shouldn’t be visible from the street.

After WFTV started asking questions, the HOA reversed the decision, and now says the statues can stay.


What Happened After This Family Put Statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on Their Lawn Could Spark a Legal Battle

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