Colorado church bans lesbian woman's funeral
buzzz worthy. . .
A church in Colorado refused to have the funeral of a lesbian woman, minutes before her service was scheduled to begin on Saturday. Vanessa Collier, 33, a wife and mother died in a gun cleaning incident and friends say her funeral proceedings were already arranged to take place at New Hope Ministries in Lakewood, CO. However, minutes before the service was to begin the church refused to allow the family to play a video that showed Collier's marriage proposal and other images of the couple displaying lesbian affection. The church wanted the openly gay images to be edited out of the video, but according to the deceased's family and friends the video was provided to the church for review days before the service giving the church enough time in advance to notify them with any concerns.
Colliers loved ones moved the service across the street to a small mortuary, in disbelief that the service was abruptly cancelled.
Jose Silva a high school friend of Collier's said he was completely caught off guard by the change of plans and thought it was a "joke." He since organized and led a "Dignity in Death" protest out side of the church on Tuesday. Silva said, “It’s about understanding that there should be dignity in death and that everybody deserves the right to be celebrated in the right way,” adding, "The lack of oversight, and lack of personal ideals and values, should never trump being able to celebrate someone’s life.”
New Hope Ministries has hosted funerals of gays in the past, but are reportedly known for their censorship policy. The church is not responding to media calls.
More on this story from Colorado's 9 News.
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| Vanessa Collier |
A church in Colorado refused to have the funeral of a lesbian woman, minutes before her service was scheduled to begin on Saturday. Vanessa Collier, 33, a wife and mother died in a gun cleaning incident and friends say her funeral proceedings were already arranged to take place at New Hope Ministries in Lakewood, CO. However, minutes before the service was to begin the church refused to allow the family to play a video that showed Collier's marriage proposal and other images of the couple displaying lesbian affection. The church wanted the openly gay images to be edited out of the video, but according to the deceased's family and friends the video was provided to the church for review days before the service giving the church enough time in advance to notify them with any concerns.
Colliers loved ones moved the service across the street to a small mortuary, in disbelief that the service was abruptly cancelled.
Jose Silva a high school friend of Collier's said he was completely caught off guard by the change of plans and thought it was a "joke." He since organized and led a "Dignity in Death" protest out side of the church on Tuesday. Silva said, “It’s about understanding that there should be dignity in death and that everybody deserves the right to be celebrated in the right way,” adding, "The lack of oversight, and lack of personal ideals and values, should never trump being able to celebrate someone’s life.”
New Hope Ministries has hosted funerals of gays in the past, but are reportedly known for their censorship policy. The church is not responding to media calls.
More on this story from Colorado's 9 News.
