[MAMBA] Beloftebos, in the Western Cape, continues to defy the law and constitution and has again humiliated another same-sex couple by refusing to host their wedding.When Sasha-Lee Heekes, 24, a content writer, and Megan Watling, 25, a trainee accountant, got engaged in December last year, they were excited to start planning their dream wedding.
Despite being a couple of seven years, the engagement also represented their coming out to the broader world. “We had read horror stories of homophobic attacks and we did not want our love to be attacked,” Heekes told MambaOnline. “We have grown so much as people since we were together as teenagers. We finally felt ready and strong enough to take on whatever the world had to throw at us.”
After a recommendation from a family friend, the young couple went to the website of Beloftebos, a wedding venue in the town of Stanford. They were excited by what they saw, believing that it would be perfect to host their “forest fairy tale” wedding in April next year.
After filling out the online enquiry form on 7 January, they were met with silence. After a follow-up call and email, they finally received a response from Beloftebos owner Coia de Villiers.
De Villiers told the women that she could not allow their wedding at the venue because “based on our personal beliefs, we do not host weddings between couples of the same gender.”
She referred them to a statement on the Beloftebos website that elaborated on the Christian owners’ views on same-sex marriage. The statement affirms that their “Biblical conviction is that marriage is reserved for a life-long commitment between one man and one woman.”
Skipping down to "swallowing bitter pill."
“It has been a difficult pill to swallow, but we are so in love and so excited to get married,” says Heekes. “We have also received so much love and support – from people that we don’t even know – and it has just reminded us the importance of us continuing to live authentically and to do our part wherever we can to make the world a more tolerant and accepting place for the LGBTQIA+ community.”