Lesbian couple get free wedding venue after ‘heart-crushing’ experience with initial locale
Ali Waggy and Jessica Robinson wanted to have their wedding at the Barn at Grace Hill in Newton, Kansas, until they received an email from the owner.
A gay Kansas couple found what they thought was the perfect wedding venue, until the owner told them her “deeply held religious beliefs” prevented her from celebrating their marriage.
Wichita residents Ali Waggy and Jessica Robinson, who got engaged in July, toured the Barn at Grace Hill, a venue in Newton, earlier this month, the Wichita Eagle reported. Even before touring, Waggy said she knew she wanted to get married there, because “their barn is beautiful.”
After the tour, Waggy said she followed up with an email about moving forward with booking the venue, but she received a “heart-crushing” response from the venue owner, Amanda Balzer, the Eagle reported.
“While our deeply held religious beliefs keeps us from celebrating anything but marriage between a man and woman, we desire to serve everyone equally and do not want to keep anyone from using our building who would like to,” Balzer wrote, according to a screenshot of the email that Waggy shared in a Facebook post Jan. 8. “Our hearts are to serve, regardless of race, creed, color, origin, sexual orientation, gender or marital status, while maintaining our convictions and beliefs as well. All couples legally permitted to marry in Kansas are welcome to use The Barn at Grace Hill. Sharing this with you is the only way we have found that allows everyone to move forward in the most authentic way possible.”
Neither the couple nor Balzer immediately returned requests for comment.
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