‘We Were Kind of in Shock’ the Couple Says
A Pennsylvania bridal boutique is under fire after allegedly citing their Christian faith and refusing to sell wedding gowns to a same-sex couple. Shannon Kennedy and Julie Ann Samanas say earlier this month they went shopping for their March 2018 ceremony. After crossing off the word “groom” and replacing it with “bride,” on W.W. Bridal Boutique’s form, they were told, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re Christian and we don’t believe in that; our faith doesn’t let us believe in that.”
That’s what Kennedy told Philadelphia Gay News. She also said, “I think we were kind of in shock.â€
“We all looked at each other and went, ‘Oo-k’ and walked out. It was unexpected. Afterwards, you think of everything you should have said.â€
On Facebook, according to PGN, the store wrote: “The owners of W.W. Bridal Boutique reserve the rights afforded to them by the First Amendment of the Constitution to live out our lives according to our faith. ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ We will continue to serve our customers based on the tenets of our faith.'”
On Facebook, Samanas wrote, “I’ll gladly take my money some where else, when a business won’t allow you to try on wedding dresses simply because you’re gay,” as GayStarNews reports.
Kennedy says they’ve received overwhelming support on social media.
“We had about 300 shares of our post, and I think we only saw two negative things,†she told PGN.Â
An anti-gay Facebook page, 1,000,000 Supporting Traditional Marriage, shared the PGN story with its 137,982 fans.Â
“Please pray for W.W. Bridal Boutique…..They’re receiving a lot of hate mail because of this article,” they wrote.
One Facebook user responded: “I am a conservative Catholic. Like all the others similar stories. The store owner is not or will not commit a sin by selling a dress to this couple,” he said. “Therefore it is bad business for any business owner to turn down business.”
In response, the page moderators asked him to “delete” his post, calling it “a gross misrepresentation of the Catholic Church.”
Some others on the anti-gay Facebook page were less supportive of the couple:
This is not the first time the store has been accused of turning away a same-sex couple. The Huffington Post reported the boutique refused to sell gowns in 2014 to another same-sex couple.
Victoria Miller, who owns the W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that providing the women dresses “for a sanctified marriage would break God’s law.â€
The Millers spoke with the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council in 2014:
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