I recently received an email from a gentleman who is an LGBT-friendly pastor in Tucson, Arizona. He asks, “I want to open a commitment ceremony chapel. What certification does the LGBT community want me to have?”
Since our stubborn state doesn’t recognize…well you know where I am going with that. How should I respond to the LGBT-friendly pastor?
Do you have any thoughts on what you want from him or what kind of feedback we can give him?
Your Modern Union Wedding Planner,
Cicely
Cicely Rocha.Miller is the founder of MRSter.com and is the owner and senior consultant of an event and wedding planning company based in Phoenix, Arizona called Life Design Event Planning. She specializes in celebrations of all types including hetero- and gay weddings or commitment ceremonies.
I have questions:
#1 Does the Pastor want to know if there are special LGBTQ Certifications for our unions? To my knowledge it would just be an "ordained minister", or pastor, priest, etc. For example, or officiate was ordained online.
OR
#2 Do you mean what can be utilized as a marriage certificate seeing as that AZ does not "allow" for a marriage license? If yes, then our officiate created one for us. She had a very professional looking one like the ones provided to the lucky "hetero" couples and then a super fabulous one that she created which we prefered. We signed it, as did she, and our Maid of Honors as witnesses. We have it framed.
OR
#3 Do you mean he wants to know what certifications are needed to open up a LGBTQ Friendly wedding chapel? For that I am unsure. I know some churches are LGBTQ friendly, and some are the opposite. If it were an LGBTQ friendly wedding chappel, I’m not sure if that would be considered a "church" which is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization.
I would like to know the answers as well…anyone out there?
I dont know of any special certification available, but I just wanted to drop in and say if anyone knows of any type I too would be interested! As far as I know we are the only insured Bartending Service in Arizona that even cares about doing comittment ceremonies. I know for sure that we are the ONLY ones that spend our advertising dollars with Pride Guide and we participate/network with GPGLCC and One Community as well!
Cheers,
Chad Zaneis
Owner – Hey Bartender! LLC
Hey Shannon, I look forward to hearing the response from the gentleman who asked the question. Let’s get some clarity, shall we?
Chad, I will say that I am so grateful that Hey Bartender is so involved in the community. Although, PourMasters IS on our FABuLIST and they did donate and participate in this past April’s Pride Wedding Expo in Phoenix. So it looks like we have another great allies!