Family of a Colorado woman are furious after a church cancelled her funeral service 15 minutes before it was to start, because the church wouldn't show a tribute video where she was seen proposing to and kissing her wife. ABC News reports Vanessa Collier died on 30 December, aged 33, leaving behind a wife and two children. Relatives who packed into the New Hope Ministries church in Lakewood, Colorado this weekend for her funeral say they were shocked to be told it would not go ahead. Vanessa Collier leaves a wife and two children behind. They say the church’s pastor said this was because of an “inappropriate” video they wanted to show – and that it could only go ahead if they edited images of Collier proposing to and kissing her wife. “It was disgusting,” her cousin Jessica Maestas told ABC News. They moved the funeral across the street to a funeral home. Maestas told ABC News the church was well aware Collier was a lesbian, and that a tribute video was to be played. Family and friends have held a protest in front of New Hope Ministries, called “Dignity in Death Rally”. It was organised was organized by Collier’s friend Jose Silva who says “Sitting there, watching your friend being packed up and shuttled out of a church was just horrific … I organised the march because I wasn’t going to let this be the memory of her death. Love is love.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 15th January 2015 - 8:44am