Rifqa Bary is 18.
That means the Christian convert who became a ward of Ohio because of fear that her Muslim family would abuse her because of her choice of faith is out on her own. Here’s what the AP had to say:
Bary, who had argued that she feared harm from her parents because of her religious conversion, planned to celebrate her birthday privately with friends, her attorneys said.
“She looks forward to preaching the word to all the nations — and those are her words,” said Angela Lloyd, one of her attorneys.
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“She has views and she has beliefs, and the sooner the parents come to understand and recognize that, the sooner there could be down the road some reconciliation,” Kort Gatterdam, another Bary attorney, said in his first public comments after a gag order dissolved with Bary’s birthday.
As you can imagine, Bary’s parents aren’t too found of her attorneys.
Her case became a cause celebre when it erupted last year. Lots of others have weighed in. Check out Mollie’s piece from last September and, more recently, Howard Friedman of Religion Clause.
