Wedding Planner Refuses Same-Sex Couple: ‘There Is A War On Those Who Believe In Jesus’

An Arizona wedding planner who has refused to marry a lesbian same-sex couple is lamenting what she calls a “war on those who believe in Jesus.” But there’s a catch – she’s an ordained minister. Now what?

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Crystal Allen and Kenyata White want to get married in Encanto Park, a 222 acre public park in Phoenix, Arizona. Both women (photo above) are busy – Allen graduates from law school the day before their December wedding, and White is a performing artist. 

So they contacted Reverend Susan Latimer of AfffordableWeddingMinister.com. After several emails, Rev. Latimer learned that the couple are both women, and politely refused to help them with their wedding.

“We are very uncomfortable with same-sex marriage as it is directly against our beliefs,” Rev. Latimer told them via email. “We would not be a very good fit.”

The couple spoke with local NBC-affiliate 12News.

“It’s disappointing because it was the way I wanted it set up” White says. “Everything was just perfect.”

“They don’t even have to have fun,” she added. “Just set up our wedding.”

“We’re not saying they have to love us,” Allen says. “They don’t even have to condone what we do or who we are.”

Is the wedding planner liable or breaking Phoenix’s anti-discrimination law?

No.

“If they’re licensed ministers, they get to say who they want to marry and who they don’t,” Brendan Mahoney, an attorney, chair of the city’s Human Relations Commission, and co-author of the City of Phoenix’s LGBT anti-discrimination law, told 12News. “Go find a place that wants to marry you, that looks forward to marrying you, and have a happy wedding,” Mahoney says.

But Reverend Latimer isn’t as tolerant.

“No matter what I say to you I believe it will be twisted by the media,” she told 12News in an email. “By the stroke of one federal judge’s pen we are being dictated what the state says moral law should be. This goes directly against God’s laws and 80% of Arizona voters in 2008.”

Latimer adds she believes there “is a war on those who believe in Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Why is my freedom being taken away? I feel same sex marriage is wrong and have every right to have feelings just like they do. I wouldn’t want someone who is opposed to the way I live my life involved in my marriage ceremony in any way.”

 

Image: Screenshot via News 12/Arizona Republic
Hat tip: Think Progress