A bridal shop in New Jersey has come under fire after refusing to sell a dress to a bride-to-be, reportedly because her spouse will be a woman.
Alix Genter told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week that the manager of Here Comes the Bride, in Somers Point, N.J., espoused numerous antigay sentiments and said she did not want her store to participate in an “illegal action.”
Genter plans to obtain a civil union from New Jersey, where she lives, and have a wedding ceremony next summer in New York, where same-sex marriage was recently legalized.
Genter did not respond to a request for comment from PGN.
According to the Inquirer, Genter and several members of her family visited the shop earlier this month and Genter found a dress she liked but was waiting to purchase until the store manager, Donna Saber, found out if it came in a different fabric.
However, Genter said Saber called her a few days later after noticing Genter had crossed out the word “groom” on papers she filled out and replaced it with the word “partner” and her fiancée’s name.
According to the Inquirer, Saber told her it was a “shame” she was gay and that her relationship was “wrong.” Saber had reportedly expressed an interest in meeting with Genter’s parents to discuss the situation.
It is not clear if Genter plans to take any legal action against the shop.
New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation, among other characteristics.
The incident has taken a toll on Here Comes the Bride’s public image: After the news of Genter’s situation became public, online review sites like Yelp have been inundated by negative reviews of the shop.
Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality, said Saber’s reaction exemplifies the real-life ramifications of civil-union versus marriage-equality laws.
“There could not be a stronger example of the failure of the civil-union law in New Jersey than this one. Three-and-a-half years after New Jersey’s civil-union law took effect, here we have a shop owner who actually thought it was illegal to sell a dress to a lesbian for a wedding ceremony because New Jersey does not have real marriage equality,” Goldstein said. “Nothing demonstrates more effectively, and more tragically, how civil unions are disrespected and just don’t work in the real world. Once again, we have proof: Marriage is the only currency of commitment the real world consistently accepts.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].
