Mike Cerantola and his partner Victor thought they had found the perfect photographer for their November wedding.
“I sent (Victor) the quote, he agreed with it, so we were trying to set up a meeting,” Cerantola told CTV Montreal.
The photographer at Montreal’s Premiere Productions then asked for details about the bride, Cerantola said.
“I mentioned that there’s only going to be one house, since we already live with each other, and I said there is no bride: we’re two guys.”
The photographer’s reply shocked the couple.
“I regret that I cannot take this wedding because it is at odds with my personal religious beliefs,” the photographer allegedly responded in an e-mail to Cerantola.
“Wait -- did that just happen?” Cerantola said. “I was with my friend and she was like, ‘Are we reading this right?’ So, obviously I was a little shocked to hear that, and this kind of thing had never happened to me before.”
According to Fo Niemi, the executive director of the Montreal-based Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, the response is not only shocking -- it's illegal.
“You cannot discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation, especially in the case of commercial business services available to the public,” Niemi told CTV Montreal. “So, that's on top of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.”
CTV Montreal tried contacting the photography studio on more than one occasion. The company has yet to return CTV’s calls.
Following the incident, Cerantola’s colleagues posted the e-mail exchange on Facebook, generating messages of support for the couple and dozens of photographer recommendations.
“I have like 29 photographers to go through now, so it brought some good in it,” Cerantola said. In the meantime, he hopes that Premiere Productions will change their policies so such discrimination stops.
Niemi, however, believes the couple should take legal action.
“We have to stop this kind of use of religion as a proxy to promote anti-gay bias,” he said.
With files from CTV Montreal
