Wedding venue devastatingly shuns lesbian couple citing “religious beliefs”

In Kansas, preschool teacher Ali Waggy and her fiancée Jessica Robinson have been battling back the tears since Sunday night. That’s when they learned Ali’s lifelong dream of an old-fashioned wedding in a quaint barn on the Kansas plains was in jeopardy.

At 10 o’clock on Sunday night, the owners of the Barn at Grace Hill in Newton made clear to the couple they weren’t welcome at the popular wedding venue.

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Their bagel shop has been called “a safe haven where acceptance, love, and joy thrives.”

“Their barn is beautiful,” Waggy told the Wichita Eagle. It broke her heart to learn that she and Robinson had been shunned.

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The couple had been planning an old-fashioned plains-style wedding since before they were engaged. Waggy proposed to Robinson on the beach on a family trip to Florida in July.

She has been in touch with the Grace Hill venue since.

On Sunday, Waggy, her parents, her children, and Robinson toured the Grace Hill venue with the owners, and it was everything she had hoped for.

“Imagine going to your dream wedding venue with your fiancé, kids & parents,” Waggy posted to Facebook. “Seeing it, falling even more in love with it, deciding it’s it. Your parents coming over & making lists, coming up with plans.”

The couple was ready to commit with deposits, and Waggy emailed the owners one last time that evening after the tour with a question before arranging a contract.

A bombshell response followed, one the women have yet to recover from.

“While our deeply held religious belief keeps us from celebrating anything but marriage between a man and woman, we desire to serve everyone equally and do not want to keep anyone from using our building who would like to,” wrote the venue co-owner, Amanda Balzer. “Our hearts are to serve, regardless of race, creed, color, origin, sexual orientation, gender or marital status, while maintaining our convictions and beliefs as well.”

Waggy and Robinson were devastated.

“Honestly, I just started crying hysterically, and it was pretty awful and heart-crushing,” Waggy said.

In her Facebook post sharing the traumatic incident with friends, Waggy characterized the co-owner’s response as, “Basically, ‘it’s illegal for me to tell you you can’t use it; so you can. We will take your money, but we’re not going to celebrate your marriage & want to make sure you know that.”

Balzer called the response “an open and honest line of communication” to let Waggy “know who we are and where our heart is.”

The explanation was little consolation for Waggy.

“I’ve cried all night…” she shared on Facebook. “People suck.”

But Waggy and Robinson have taken comfort in the overwhelming support they’ve received in the days since, including recommendations for alternate venues that would welcome the couple with open arms.

A neighboring venue posted to Facebook: “At Grace Hill Winery, we have always stood for inclusivity and equality.”

The couple are confident they’ll be able to find an equally beautiful — and more inviting — venue in time for their 2025 nuptials.

Waggy says she hopes their experience, painful as it was, helps other couples navigate their wedding planning smoothly.

“If I can help even one other person… not go through that, that’s a win.”