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Wedding venue turns away same-sex couple in Fuquay-Varina

A same sex couple is ready to say I do, but a popular wedding venue tin Fuquay-Varina turned them away.

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By
Julian Grace
, WRAL anchor
FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. — A same sex couple is ready to say I do, but a popular wedding venue in Fuquay-Varina turned them away.

McCae Henderson and Ike Edwards had a checklist and a wedding date – all they needed was a venue.

A friend suggested the Highgrove Estate.

“We thought it was very picturesque," said Edwards, "Nice outdoor area. We thought it would be great for a Spring wedding.”

So they inquired, filled out the questionnaire and put their names in the slots.

Two days later they got this response from a Highgrove Estate employee:

"Thank you so much for your inquiry! To answer your question, our owner has unfortunately chosen not to participate in same-sex weddings at this time.

However, she wants to ensure that you still have the best wedding day experience possible, and has given me a list of several other wonderful venues in the area that may interest you."

The couple was shocked.

"We haven’t really got that response from any venue or vendor that we reached out to," said Henderson. "To see that in 2021 was very surprising to us because we haven’t faced anything like that.”

They posted the response on social media and received a lot of support from people and other venues willing to host their wedding.

Highgrove Estate's instagram page has a message saying, in part:

"Highgrove Estate desires that all people's weddings to be the most joyful in their lives. Highgrove also respects people's differences regarding marriage. For this reason, we will always be kind and caring when these differences arise. Although Highgrove knows it cannot deliver what is being requested as the company holds strong to its Christian beliefs."

The couple, however, said they have many friends who grew up Christian, and this sentiment from Highgrove Estate isn't shared by those friends.

"To disguise their discrimination under the guise of Christianity was an insult to us," he said.

WRAL did make several attempts to reach out to Highgrove Estate – through phone calls, the business website, and social media.

So far, we haven't received a response back yet, but will continue to check our messages.

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