LESBIAN COUPLE REFUSED MARRIAGE VENUE
An East London lesbian couple planning to get married have been turned away by a local wedding venue for “religious reasons,” reports The Daily Dispatch newspaper.
Carole van der Berg and Helen Ross, a couple of 13 years, approached the Country Style Catering and Venue outside East London as the location for their wedding, and initially seemed to be welcomed.
However after, visiting the establishment and planning the menu, they were told that they could not go ahead with the event because the owners’ religion forbids same-sex wedding.
The owners have told the newspaper that they belong to the Jehovah Witness church and as such cannot proceed with the wedding at their venue.
A constitutional law expert has urged the couple to take the matter to the equality court, explaining that it is illegal for businesses to refuse a service on the basis of sexual orientation.
“For the past 13 years I have been with my soul mate, I have never been discriminated against or been judged as they did to us,” Van der Berg said.
I smell a lawsuit. Sic them ladies. They’re doing business in a secular society, they have to bide by secular law.
i used to work for one of the biggest and oldest wedding venues in gauteng (you’ll all know it i am sure) and when same sex marriage was legalised the owner made a decision then, that he would never allow a gay wedding to happen there…..
JEHOVA’S WEDDING VENU. There is clearly still a huge amount of arrogance surrounding religion. They seem to feel that they live outside of and on a level above society. This BUSINESS OWNER needs to realize that they are running a business and so are not entitled to deny patrons on the basis of their religious beliefs. Do they have no respect for the fact that the LEGAL RIGHT for gays to marry has been earned through years of fighting prejudice inside and outside of court. Coming from a religious backround myself I know the ‘truth’ that these people believe they live their lives by and they have a democratic right to their religious beliefs. However: their personal beliefs and convictions do NOT override the law, and should they not be able to run their business legally they should sell their business and perhaps open a printing business where they can print out religious tracts instead. I have respect for the America Amish who have created their own society – self sufficient society – in order to live by their convictions and allow the rest of us to live by ours.
MARRIAGE VENUE DENIED. Intersting enough – Jehova’s Witnesses are not allowed to celebrate certain events / drink coke / have dietary laws etc – do they then refuse to serve these items or deny certain functions to take place at their venue on these grounds? Ludicrous and obviously have double standards.
Bollocks on the bandwagon of good and evil. Judge lest you not be judged yourself. This is a load of hogswash. It’s horrible that business owners feel this way and use something as sensitive as religion by with which to justify their bigotist behaviour, to decide to ruin someone else’s dreams, no matter what their sexual orientation, shame on them. Maybe as a gay community we should ban together and have a hot list, for all those anti-gay establishments, whereby we boycott these venues and secondly maybe it’s time that we create our own seperatist establishments which cater for our needs and sod the rest.