Outrageous discriminatory statement from wedding coordinator Priscilla Arminio from Prisar Vallarta

[Lo2011]

So, my partner and I were planning our amazing wedding in Puerto Vallarta to find our that there are vendors in Mexico who discriminates because of sexual orientation. A little bit of background here, in 1991, the Mexico Constitution was amended to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, among other factors. Therefore, it makes it illegal to discriminate someone because of her or his sexual orientation. I contacted Priscilla Arminio from Prisar Vallarta (www.prisarvallarta.com) and after exchanging emails, she finally got back to me with the following discriminatory statement, I will translate for you as it was in Spanish. 

 

Spanish version as it was sent by her on October 12, 2011: 

Hola ,

Me da mucha pena pero aún y cuando respetamos y no juzgamos los matrimonios gays, somos cristianos y no compartimos esa convicción, que como te repito respeto. Desde que iniciamos hacer bodas mi esposo y yo acordamos no organizar estos matrimonios ya que van en contra de nuestras creencias. 
espero me comprendas!

Saludos

Priscilla Arminio

 

English version: 

I am really sorry, but while we respect and don't judge gay marriage, we are catholics and we don;t share that conviction, although we respect. Since we begun our business, my husband and I agreed not to coordinate gay marriage because it goes against our believes. 

I hope you understand.

Regards,

Priscilla Arminio

 

So, let me analyze this, a marriage it is not a religious matter, it is a civil right matter we are still trying to fight here in US to get equal rights. A marriage is about love. By the way, I am catholic too, raised under the roman catholic church but I am also gay, it is who I am and I am proud of that. I want to marry the person I love and it really makes me sick to hear discriminatory statements like this. Because someone that uses her religious believes can certainly discriminates someone of a different religious or different skin color, where does it stop? We all come in different shapes and forms and it is about time we stop discriminating each other. 

 

Priscilla's email is disgusting and discriminatory, it is insulting and unnecessary. Hope you don't do business with her and don't support the business of a person who clearly thinks gay people don't deserve the same rights. 

 

[AfricanVenus]

I disagree with your opinion on her email. Marriage to some, including myself, is a spiritual/religious matter, not a civil one. Nothing in her statement came across as bigoted, hypocritical, or otherwise unseemly. Her beliefs form the basis of how she runs her business, and I can respect that. She is not going around picketing against gay marriage or being obnoxious from what I can tell. She's simply explaining her business practices.

 

While countries can legislate things, they cannot legislate people's heart and belief systems. I think she is trying to be respectful, but maintain her ground. That I can respect instead of going against her beliefs to feign some sort of acceptance or to keep her business afloat. I'm not trying to start some type of uproar on this forum or criticize your post. Just saying I disagree and hope you can respect it. Take care.

[wilsoml2]

I'm sorry that you have to go through this. Yes, the woman appears to be trying to be respectful, but it still is discriminatory. Of course the government can't "legislate peoples' heart and belief systems" but they can legislate business practices and what she is doing appears to be illegal in Mexico (assuming what you said about their laws is true).

 

Hopefully you can find other vendors with better business practices. Try to not let this ruin your big day. As my husband constantly reminded me when we were planning our wedding (and things kept going wrong), all that matters is you two. As long as you're together, everything will be fine! Best of luck!

[skadow]

Wow, good to know. I would/will never use a company that would turn down services due to a certain demographics.

 

Its not that people aren't welcome to their own opinions. I just choose not to fund any company or organization thats has particular opinion.

 

I think more people would be outraged if the women wouldn't marry you because of your ethnic background, vs sexual preference. It's rather sad but hopefully the world will learn tolerance and acceptance before it's too late. 

 

With that being said.... It personally sickens me, no matter how respectful she said.

[rpingree001]

While I do not agree with Priscilla, I can appreciate that she was honest (and tried to be respectful).  Personally, I would prefer not to have someone handle my ceremony if they were against what I was doing.  You will have a much better experience with someone who does not have such strong beliefs against it. 

[Lo2011]

To African Venus: For you is a religious matter, but not everybody believes in the same religious you do. Others don't believe at all. That is why "marriage" it is NOT a religious matter. Religious should NOT bound law. Her statements are discriminatory and not only gay but also straight people don't want nothing to do with people who discriminates. Using your "lights" terms tomorrow the owner of a business can fire people because they are gay and he/she doesn't want to have gay people working with them. Ot even women, or african american, or people from other religious. I hope not everybody thinks the way you do because nobody should discriminate anybody because of religion, color of skin, gender or sexual orientation. 

[AfricanVenus]

Like I said. I just disagree with your assessment. My post was not a clarion call for debate. I never said all people believe as I and this vendor do. I specifically stated "some". I just said we should have tolerance and respect for her beliefs just as much as the GLBT community would ask of others. My race or ethnicity is not at issue and you don't have to attack me or my post. I think you rightly said it: for some, it is a religious matter. That is where the disagreement lies is exactly my point. I thank you for posting this so each couple can decide for themselves whether to work with this vendor or not. I believe, if I'm correct, that you posted to put others on alert, not to make the choice for them. While some will heed your warning, others will respect her stance and utilize her services. All the best on your planning.

[Vallartababy]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with this particular wedding planner in PV.  I am sure that not all of the planners in PV have that same belief.   I wrote a private message to you stating the same.   I was cruising the internet the other day and ran across a new website entitled "Equally Wed" and they had a local vendor tab and under that tab there is a tab for International Vendors and they only had one listed - for Puerto Vallarta - the wedding company name was Vallarta Dream Weddings (www.vallartadreamweddings.com) - you may want to contact them and see what type of services they offer.

 

Let me know if you hear back from them.  Best of luck.

 

Vallartababy

[adcarter41]

I am so glad you posted this. It does seem like she is attempting to be respectful but there is no question in my mind that this is discrimination and for that reason I would never use their services. It really makes me sick to hear people use religion to justify discrimination. I would be so hurt if I had received an e-mail like this and am so sorry you have had this experience.

[wnmrtn8]

Sorry to hear about that, I am not sure how Pricilla selects her clients but I my self contacted them to coordinate my wedding and Pricilla's husband reply back that they couldn't coordinate my wedding due to the reason that I had book the wedding site and they have to book everything them selves. I am not sure how they work. I ended up going with Vallarta Wedd Planners I haven't had any problems and Paula is great. Let me know if you would like her contact info.