Ask the Expert: Should I invite anti-gay relatives to my wedding?

Stumped on when to send out your STDs (save-the-date announcements)? Don’t know who should be invited to your rehearsal dinner? Get the answers to all your wedding etiquette questions by submitting your dilemma to etiquette@equallywed.com [1]

I have relatives who have made it clear they’re uncomfortable with me being gay. But I’m still unsure if I should invite them to my wedding. Am I being the bigger person if I send an invite? I don’t want to get my feelings hurt.

Unfortunately, being related to someone doesn’t guarantee fair treatment of gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgender people. And as sad as that is, we’re probably all used to it on some level or another and are constantly working to heal those wounds.

Your wedding is your day to celebrate your love and commitment to each other with your family and friends—the ones who love you and believe in your love. So why would you want to invite anyone who wouldn’t allow themselves to feel the love?

If you want to reach out to them to see how they’d feel or behave at your wedding, give them a call and talk to them about your feelings and hesitation. And if that’s a bit much for your taste, send them a wedding announcement after the big day.

It requires no response, but lets them know you’ve taken the leap with your—gasp—gay lover.

Kirsten Palladino is Editor in Chief of Equally Wed, the nation’s premier same-sex wedding magazine, online at www.equallywed.com [2]. Equally Wed offers gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples an extensive, trustworthy and fashionable guide of inspiration, ideas and trends for planning their engagements, weddings and honeymoons, as well as their happily ever after. The photo-rich site is home to Equally Wed’s Local Resources, a veritable marketplace of vetted GLBT-friendly wedding vendors across the United States and abroad. It also offers an interactive social community to talk to other readers about all things wedding, as well as the latest news from the frontlines of the fight for marriage equality

[1] http://www.365gay.commailto:etiquette@equallywed.com
[2] http://www.equallywed.com/

American-Dutch gay couples wed in Amsterdam

(Amsterdam) The mayor of Amsterdam presided over the weddings of five American-Dutch gay, lesbian and transgender couples on a boat during the city’s Gay Pride festival Saturday, challenging the United States to legalize gay marriage, as well.

Mayor Job Cohen also performed the first weddings in the Netherlands after the country …

Gay partners celebrate rite to bless relationships

Denise Chustz held on to her partner, Wendy Suchowski, tightly as they stared at one another Saturday afternoon.

As the sun beamed down on the Pointe Coupee couple, they began to smile broadly after the Rev. Keith Mozingo, announced, “You may now kiss your partner.”

Next to them, their friends, Adam White and Bolton Morris, of Plaquemine, did the same. The two couples were among the approximately 30 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples who took part in a blessing of relationships ceremony during the third annual Baton Rouge Pride Fest.

Mozingo, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church, officiated over the blessing of relationships at Magnolia Mound Plantation. The church is part of a national denomination that recognizes and supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender lifestyles and relationships.

Mozingo said the blessings performed Saturday do not constitute legally recognized unions.

“It’s finally saying to those couples that (they’re) in a valid relationship,” Mozingo said.

White said he and Morris will wait to get married until it is legal in Louisiana.

See