DENVER, CO – Online rankings for a metro Denver wedding videography service have dropped and a wedding venue has withdrawn its partnership after the company refused to work with a same-sex couple, citing the owner’s “personal religious beliefs.”
On Feb. 22, an employee of Media Mansion rejected the inquiry of same sex-couple Anna Suhyda and her fiancee Amanda Broadway with an email that said, “At this time we are not serving the LGBTQ community!”
The couple, who’ve been together for four years, are planning a Boulder wedding this June.
“I just thought Denver was different. You know, not that he is every business, but I didn’t think we’d have that here in 2019,” Suhyda told Denver7. “Our relationship shouldn’t affect anybody in a negative way. So, the fact that it gets turned into that is just upsetting.”
On Saturday, the company issued a “clarification” saying that the company is “happy to work with people in the LGBTQ community” but “we simply do not film gay ceremonies or engagements.” The decision was based on “personal religious beliefs,” the owner Benjamin Hostetter posted on Facebook.
Since then, the company has received multiple one-star ratings on “The Knot,” an online referral service that previously ranked Media Mansion in its top vendors category. Hundreds of commenters decried the company’s clarification on Facebook, saying that it “only made things worse” and “showed off your bigotry.”
An Estes Park wedding venue, Della Terra Mountain Chateau, withdrew their partnership with Media mansion and asked that the videographers not display their logo on the company’s page.
Meanwhile, Hostetter told Denver7 he has gay friends and has been saddened by the reaction to his Christian beliefs.
“It really like just kind of exploded, and everyone just kind of assumed that we hate gay people, which is sad,” Hostetter told the TV channel. “I have friends who are gay, and if they want to hang out and me to do a video for them, it’s totally cool. But specifically doing a project that would be against my beliefs in anything regardless of what the specifics of it is not something I want to engage in.”
Since 2012, when Lakewood-based Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips refused to bake a cake for a gay couple, Colorado has been a hot-spot for wedding vendors who have refused to serve same-sex couples. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that Phillips should not have been fined by the Colorado Commission on Civil Rights based on withholding his artistic cake-decorating talent for gay couples against his personal religious beliefs. (Citing his Christian beliefs, Phillips also said he would refuse to decorate a birthday cake for Satan.)
The Colorado Commission on Civil Rights originally fined Phillips for allegedly discriminating against gay customers, which may be why the language of Media Mansion’s employee, “At this time we are not serving the LGBTQ community!” may get the company in hot water.
Even Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “Masterpiece” Supreme Court ruling said the ruling did not mean refusing to sell goods to gay customers was permitted, “lest all purveyors of goods and services who object to gay marriages for moral and religious reasons in effect be allowed to put up signs saying ‘no goods or services will be sold if they will be used for gay marriages’ something that would impose a serious stigma on gay persons.”
OneColorado, a Denver-based LGBTQ advocacy organization condemned the actions of Media Mansion in a statement.
“Businesses may decide what products or services they offer, but they do not get to pick and choose who they offer those products or services to,” said Daniel Ramos, executive director, in a statement. “We strongly encourage anyone who is discriminated against in areas of housing, employment, or public accommodations to file a complaint with Colorado Civil Rights Division.”
READ MORE on DenverChannel.com
Related: Gay Wedding Cake Case: 5 Things To Know About The SCOTUS Decision
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