Vanessa Collier, left, her wife Christina and two daughters.
Not far from my old stomping grounds in Colorado, Ray Chavez and his wife Lola founded a church in Lakewood, a western suburb of Denver, 34 years ago. They called it New Hope. On its website, it is described as "a place where those bound by drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence can find an 'Ounce of Hope.'"
That sounds like a good thing. And it certainly could be. But Pastor Ray's Christian goodwill apparently has a limit. According to Jesse Paul at The Denver Post, the pastor refused to continue a memorial service that was already 15 minutes underway last weekend for Vanessa Collier.
Because she was a lesbian.
Hundreds of Vanessa Collier's friends and family gathered Saturday at New Hope Ministries, sitting before an open casket holding the woman they loved, when suddenly the minister overseeing her funeral stopped the service.
The memorial could not continue, Pastor Ray Chavez said, as long as pictures of Collier with the love of her life, the spouse she shared two children with, were to be displayed.
Chavez said there could be no images of Collier with her wife, Christina. There could be no indication that Collier was gay.
So much for hope, eh?
Rather than submit to Pastor Ray's refusal to go on with the service unless Collier's family and friends denied an integral part of her life, they picked up the flowers and eventually her casket and held the service across the street at a mortuary.
"A church turning away a funeral. Who has ever heard of anything like that happening?" said Jeanette Arguello, a friend.
About four dozen supporters gathered outside of the church on Tuesday afternoon in protest, chanting "Give us an apology!" and "Shame on Pastor Ray!" Security guards were stationed in front of the building to ensure none of the marchers made their way onto the property.
Among the placards protesters carried: "You will not find Jesus at New Hope but you will find hypocrisy" and "Indignity in death."
Clearly, Pastor Ray doesn't have the courage to apologize to the adults whom his spiritual sterility drove out of New Hope church on Saturday. But 33-year-old Collier was the mother of two girls, 8 and 12. Perhaps, after a few hours spent on his knees asking forgiveness from the Guy he thinks instructed him to abort their mother's memorial service, he can suck up enough humility to beg the forgiveness of those two children. And vow never to behave like that again. But if his hate runs too deep to apologize even to them, which seems likely, perhaps he could at least give back the money he charged for the service he cut short.