90-year-old grandma stands up for gay grandson after he faces wedding discrimination

Gay people don’t “know when to quit pushing” Christians over their right to get married, according to the owner of a trolley rental company in North Carolina that a gay couple wanted to hire for their wedding.

“We do not offer wedding services to those outside a man and a woman.” That was the final answer from a Christian woman that fiancés Daniel Sheehan and Matt Price had contacted in July about transportation for friends and family at their upcoming nuptials.

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“We were just trying to get our grandparents and guests from point A to point B,” Sheehan told People magazine. “It shouldn’t have been the most complicated part of our planning process.”

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While the couple was saddened and angry about the trolley owner’s reply, they were more worried about the reaction from Sheehan’s 90-year-old grandma, Ginny Parasiliti.

“It was exactly what she was afraid we would experience when I came out,” Sheehan said. “I knew she’d be hurt to know what happened.”

In fact, she was angrier than they were.

“Hi guys, I am just beside myself with FURY!!!!!” Parasiliti texted Sheehan after word of the refusal got out among family.

“But, I’m not going to let these bigots ruin my excitement about your wedding,” she wrote. “Christianity is loving each of us & the path we have chosen!!!! Love is who we choose as our partner, & the one who makes our lives complete!!!! Raise your heads up high, & be PROUD of who you are!!! Amazing humans!!!!! Love you guys with all my heart. ♥️”

In a follow-up text, Parasiliti added: “I have a new recipe for you. Tuscan chicken. I’ll send it to you. 👍💕💕💕”

Sheehan and Price said they were “taken aback” by yet another show of love and support from the Catholic grandma, a first-generation Italian American.

“She is a light of my life,” Sheehan said of Parasiliti, who along with his grandpa helped raise him when his mother became ill with multiple sclerosis.

“She’s so outspoken in her support, becoming another grandparent for friends of mine, including many who had less-than-desirable coming out experiences,” he said.

“She is an incredible balance of sweet and fiery that I don’t think you always find in someone, but it’s something that I think she really embodies,” Price added. “She’s just been fantastic to myself, to both of us, and helped support our relationship.”

Sheehan and Price decided not answer the trolley owner directly, instead posting a warning to other LGBTQ+ people in a Google review of her business. That really set the Christian woman off: She emailed the couple a hostile screed saying that their behavior will push “Christians to vote out of fear” and make “more martyrs for the cause of Trump.”

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court set LGBTQ+ protections back with their ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which found that businesses can refuse services to gay and transgender people in some instances.  It’s unlikely that court decision applies to a trolley rental service, as the court’s decision primarily stated that people who offer “creative” services can’t be compelled by law to write speech that doesn’t adhere to their personal religious beliefs.

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