COUNTDOWN TO SCOTUS

GLAAD Issues Gay-Wedding Denial Checklist

checklist GLAAD

As we barrel toward Tuesday, when the Supreme Court starts hearing arguments in pivotal same-sex-marriage cases, GLAAD has put together a checklist of some of the things denied to gay couples looking to tie the knot.

Oh not tax breaks or health-care benefits—we’re talking about wedding cake, gowns, flowers and other accoutrement venders have refused to provide to same-sex couples.

Have a gander:

Cake: This February, Oregon-based Sweet Cakes Bakery owner Aaron Klein refused to sell a lesbian couple a wedding cake. “If I have to be penalized for my beliefs, then I’ll let it be what it is,” he said. Citing religious conviction, he said he’d rather be forced to close his business down than “be forced to do something that violates my conscience.”

Dress: After trying on a dress in a New Jersey bridal salon, lesbian bride Alix Genter was called by the shop owner and told her business was no longer welcome. When Donna of Here Comes the Bride in Somers Point saw that Genter had crossed out “groom” on an informational sheet and written, instead, “partner”, she contacted Genter with her decision: “There’s right and there’s wrong,” she said, “and this is wrong.”

Flowers: Most recently, a beloved flower shop in Washington State, one that Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed had frequented for years, refused to do the flowers for their wedding after marriage equality passed in the November election. “I am sorry. I can’t do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ,” owner Baronelle Stutzman told the couple. Her shop has been open for almost forty years, and this is the first wedding she has declined.

PhotographerElane Photography is a New Mexico based company co-owned by Elaine Huguenin, a devout Christian woman who refused to photograph a commitment ceremony after realizing that the couple was gay.

Wedding venue: A Texas couple was denied a venue for their reception.

Honeymoon: Two men were asked to leave a Bed & Breakfast because of the owner’s Christian beliefs.

? Paperwork: A New York town clerk said she’d do everything in her power never to sign a gay or lesbian wedding license.

?Reception: The Boardwalk Pavilion—a public space run by the United Methodist Church in Ocean Grove, New Jersey—banned same-sex couples from renting the property for a ceremony.

 

Visit GLAAD.org/marriage for updates on the battle for full marriage-equality

 

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