A lesbian couple in Oregon says they were blocked from exchanging their wedding vows at a Seattle venue because of their sexual orientation.
Amy Lynn and Emily Thomas of Eugene, Ore., had decided on their dream venue and were all set to move forward with booking their wedding, when the owner found out it wouldn’t be a ceremony between a bride and groom.
“I’m not sure she knew quite what I meant, so I said, well we would be two brides,” Thomas told Seattle’s KOMO-TV, describing their follow-up phone call after visiting with the venue owner, who up until that point had been excited to have their business.
Instead, the woman suddenly went silent.
“She sort of dwelled on it a little bit and then eventually she said, ‘You know, I actually don’t think that would be a good fit,” Thomas told the TV station.
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The couple, who have been together since college, couldn’t believe what was happening.
“It was really jarring for me because I was only asking just to be sure,” Thomas said of the conversation.
The incident isn’t unique to Oregon — a gay couple in New York sued a restaurant in the West Village this week for backing out of hosting their wedding because of their sexual orientation, arguing the owner violated their civil rights.
Barrett Greene, 50, and Thomas Eng, 38, were set to get married at the Amber Village restaurant in Manhattan, but a manager at the restaurant said “he didn’t want any ‘gay parties’ at Amber Village.”
The couple allege that the restaurant manager wouldn’t host their wedding because it would be “bad for feng shui” and fired the man who had booked it in the first place.
Washington state’s ACLU legal director Sarah Dunne told KOMO-TV that venues can’t discriminate against gay weddings, and likened it to venues refusing to serve people because of their race in the 1950s and 1960s.
“You cannot deny service to someone based on their race, gender, religion or sexual orientation,” she said.
The venue, which was not named in KOMO-TV’s report, declined to comment to the station.
