90-year-old grandmother defends gay grandson after discriminatory remarks on wedding rights
August 21, 2024According to the owner of a trolley rental company in North Carolina, gay people don’t “know when to quit pushing” Christians over their right to get married. This statement came in response to a gay couple seeking transportation for their wedding.
“We do not offer wedding services to those outside a man and a woman,” was the firm reply from a Christian woman whom fiancés Daniel Sheehan and Matt Price contacted in July regarding transportation for their friends and family for the upcoming event. “We were just trying to get our grandparents and guests from point A to point B,” Sheehan shared with People magazine. “It shouldn’t have been the most complicated part of our planning process.”
While the couple felt saddened and angry by the trolley owner’s response, their primary concern was how Sheehan’s 90-year-old grandmother, Ginny Parasiliti, would react.
“It was exactly what she was afraid we would experience when I came out,” Sheehan reflected. “I knew she’d be hurt to know what happened.”
To their surprise, she ended up being angrier than they were, ‘LGBTQ Nation’ writes.
“Hi guys, I am just beside myself with FURY!!!!!” Parasiliti texted Sheehan after the news about the refusal circulated among family members.
“But, I’m not going to let these bigots ruin my excitement about your wedding,” she continued. “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. ♥️”
Image Credit: Canva
In a subsequent text, Parasiliti shared: “I have a new recipe for you. Tuscan chicken. I’ll send it to you. 👍💕💕💕”
Sheehan and Price expressed they were “taken aback” by yet another demonstration of love and support from the Catholic grandmother, who is a first-generation Italian American.
“She is a light of my life,” Sheehan said of Parasiliti, who, along with his grandfather, helped raise him during his mother’s battle 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 noted.
“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.”
Rather than responding to the trolley owner directly, Sheehan and Price opted to post a warning for other LGBTQ+ individuals in a Google review of her business. This action provoked a hostile email from the Christian woman, who claimed that their behavior would push “Christians to vote out of fear” and create “more martyrs for the cause of Trump.”
In 2023, the U.S.A. Supreme Court weakened LGBTQ+ protections with its ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which allowed businesses to refuse services to gay and transgender individuals under certain circumstances. However, it’s unlikely that this court decision pertains to a trolley rental service, as it specifically stated that individuals providing “creative” services cannot be legally compelled to convey speech that conflicts with their personal religious beliefs.
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