Cliff DesPeaux/Reuters
A Texas wedding venue turned away a gay couple because of the owner’s religious beliefs, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reports. Aaron Lucero and Jeff Cannon, who got engaged in June 2018 while vacationing in Europe, said they set a date to tie the knot in November 2019. They wanted a country wedding and planned to tour The Venue at Waterstone, in Celina, on Dec. 20. “Then, the night before was when they contacted us and told us that, you know, we were not welcomed there,’” Cannon said. The Venue at Waterstone’s owner reportedly wrote in an email to the couple that he believed marriage “is a representation of the bride of Christ joined to the groom (Christ who is the very God we worship). Given His plan and design for marriage, we dare not veer from His instruction... we are not able to violate our conscience.” The wedding website TheKnot.com reportedly dropped The Venue at Waterstone from its directory of vendors as a result. “It's 2019, is this really happening to us?” Lucero said. “I was kind of shocked.” In Texas, it’s not illegal for business to deny services due to sexual orientation, though some larger cities have their own anti-discrimination laws, the TV station noted.