Weddings Unveiled Refuses to Run Gay Wedding Ad, Then Retracts

Over the weekend, professional wedding photographer Anne Almasy posted an open letter to Weddings Unveiled magazine to address its refusal to run her paid advertisement that featured a lesbian couple on their wedding day. The chilly response she received after submitting the ad said:

Is there possibly another photograph you’d like to use in your ad? We just don’t feel comfortable publishing an ad featuring a same-sex couple. These aren’t our personal beliefs, of course, but, you know…

When Almasy refused to choose another photo, the company rep told her, ““We haven’t even run your credit card yet, so we can just move on without your ad.” In the subsequent letter, a fired-up Almasy addressed the magazine: 

I chose Weddings Unveiled because I’m not trying to advertise to “the gay community.” I’m advertising to couples who are getting married. This couple didn’t get “gay married.” They didn’t have a “gay wedding.” They got married. They had a wedding. They share their lives, their joys and sorrows, and all the mundane daily things that we all share with our partners. They are just people. In love. Committed to one another. … I hope you will read this and really take it to heart. I hope you will see your decision through the eyes of someone who is gay. I hope you will see it through the eyes of someone who has dear friends and family members who are gay. I hope you will see it through the eyes of history, for surely someday very soon your decision will seem archaic and absurd.

Well, apparently they did see it through different eyes — or maybe they were forced into a corner by the mass of pissed-off emails they received after Almasy’s letter went live on her blog. Yesterday, the owners, Terri and Brooke, posted an apology on Weddings Unveiled‘s website:

We are so sorry that we acted out of fear and uncertainty. We had never been faced with such a decision and we should have acted with our hearts. … We are deeply moved by the outpouring of love and support for Anne. We are so sorry that we have disappointed you and we ask for your forgiveness. If Anne would still like to run her ad in Weddings Unveiled, then we would be proud to publish it.

In the end, Almasy accepted their apology, saying she “will gladly stand with you in this fight for equality, and would be thrilled to move forward with this ad in Weddings Unveiled.”

You can read the entire interaction here.