A Phoenix lesbian couple rejected by a
wedding planner has found a new planner to coordinate their big day.
Crystal Allen and Kenyata White told
local Phoenix, Arizona media that after choosing a wedding package at
AffordableWeddingMinister.com and speaking to Susan Latimer, an
ordained non-denominational minister through Christian
Glory Church, they received an email from Latimer saying she was
unable to perform the ceremony because White had indicated that she
was marrying a woman.
As ordained ministers, Latimer and her
husband Al, who together operate AffordableWeddingMinister.com, are
exempt from Phoenix's gay-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance.
In an email to The Arizona Republic,
Latimer stated that such unions were taking away her freedom.
“By the stroke of one federal judge's
pen, we are being dictated what the state says moral law should be.
This goes directly against God's laws and 80% of Arizona voters in
2008,” Latimer incorrectly stated; the ban was approved with a
narrow 52% margin. “Why is my freedom being taken away?”
Marisa Tristan, a local wedding planner
with I Do
Events and a member of the International Pop Up Wedding
Association (IPUWA), contacted the couple and has agreed to plan
their upcoming nuptials.