Two brides-to-be are hurt after they say a wedding venue denied them because they are gay.
Fox 8 out of High Point, North Carolina, reported Kasey Mayfield and Brianna May were told to find another place to have their wedding ceremony.
NBC News reported the two met on the dating app Bumble and got engaged last month. Mayfield said she and May heard about The Warehouse on Ivy in Winston-Salem, and Mayfield reached out to them.
“I got an email asking questions, like how many people? What dates were you thinking?” Mayfield told Fox 8.
Mayfield also said she was asked for the groom’s name. When she told them the dates and wrote, “The other brides name is Brianna May,” she was told they couldn’t be accommodated.
May posted a screenshot of the email exchange on her Facebook page on Dec. 19.
“If you’re wondering how wedding planning is going ... thanks so much to the warehouse on ivy for letting us know we’re not welcome,” she captioned the post.
“As we would love to have you at our venue, unfortunately we do not host same sex marriage ceremonies. We do appreciate you considering us,” said the email, which appeared to come from a representative named Daniel Stanley.
May said she and Mayfield decided to publicly post the exchange so their friends could be aware.
“We have a lot of gay friends in our circle, so I wanted to hopefully save people the time and, kind of, hurt and energy, from getting rejected based on our sexual orientation,” May said.
“We will allow anyone of any color, race, religion or belief to use our venue at any given time,” a representative of the venue said in an email to NBC News. “Although we love and respect everyone in our community, their own decision making and beliefs, we also strongly believe in our Christian values.”
NBC News reported attempts to confirm the statement was sent by Stanley, who is listed as the director of the venue on LinkedIn, were ignored. Questions about the venue’s ownership were also ignored, according to NBC News.
The statement echoed that of the one sent to Fox 8.
Mayfield said she and her fiancee “aren’t considering legal action at this time,” but she said they are “urging our friends to email legislators to help try and pass discrimination laws for LGBTQ people.”
North Carolina wedding venues “can legally discriminate based on sexual orientation,” Fox 8 reported.
Since making the post, the couple has gotten multiple wedding offers and a lot of advice.
“We’ve gotten so many wonderful recommendations for other vendors and venues, and we’ve had people offering services,” May told NBC News.
The response of the venue isn’t stopping the couple’s wedding plans.
“At the end of the day, we’re still gay,” Mayfield told Fox 8. “We’re still going to get married in Winston-Salem and it’s still going to be amazing, even if it’s not at this one venue.”
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