According to USA Today, A “Dignity in Death” rally was held Tuesday afternoon for the lesbian woman who was denied a funeral at New Hope Ministries in Lakewood, Colorado, last week.
The funeral was said to have been canceled by the church 15 minutes after the service was supposed to start because the church would not allow a picture to be shown of the deceased, Vanessa Collier proposing to her wife.
The open casket and flowers were in place and about 170 people were in attendance.
According to Chaplain Gary Rolando, who would later preside over the funeral across the street at Newcomer Funeral Home, the New Hope Ministry is very community oriented.
He says pastors there welcome those who are gay but ask that alternative lifestyles be censored in the church.
New Hope Ministries is not commenting on the decision. He says moments prior to the funeral service, a video that was supposed to be played during the funeral was reviewed by church officials.
The church asked the video to be edited in order to proceed. Rolando says the family refused to take the picture of Collier’s proposal out of the video, and the funeral had to be moved to the mortuary across the street.
Rolando says it’s a shame that Collier’s friends are using her death to push an agenda. But her friends are angry. Many showed up to protest the church’s decision on Tuesday afternoon.
Collier, 33, died when her gun went off while cleaning it.
She is survived by her wife and two children.
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