Finding LGBT-friendly wedding vendors in Baton Rouge

With same-sex marriage legal in Louisiana, local couples now face the next hurdle—planning a wedding.

For any couple, all that planning can be a headache. But for same-sex couples in conservative Louisiana, there’s the added worry of a business or vendor turning them away because of sexual orientation.

The Capital City Alliance is trying to make that part easier.

Jena Ourso, CCA board chair, says her organization started developing an LGBT-friendly wedding directory in the months leading up to the Supreme Court ruling in late June. CCA members reached out to local businesses with a survey asking if they provide their services for same-sex couples and if they wanted to be involved in the free directory.

During Baton Rouge Pride Fest June 13, they handed out a printed version of the directory featuring about 100 vendors. After the event, they received calls from about 150 more asking to be added to the list. As of July, CCA volunteers were still in the process of adding those vendors to the full online list.

“Being from south Louisiana, we understand the mindset and the culture we live in,” Ourso says. “We knew it was possible we’d get some no’s, but that’s just the risk you take. We were happy with the results. A lot of the vendors said, ‘If your money is green, we’ll take you.’”

The directory features bakers, caterers, planners, DJs, bands, florists, venues, photographers, officiants, salons and more from the greater Baton Rouge area. Among them are some of the most well-known and long-standing providers of such services in the region.

“There are some places that don’t necessarily categorize themselves as being LGBT-friendly [via signage or advertising], but they are excited about this as a new business venture for them,” Ourso says.

Members of CCA had talked to a lot of couples going through the process of planning a wedding about their fears of discrimination and alienation. For many of them, it wasn’t just that a business would refuse them service, but that they might be verbally assaulted or confronted about their sexual orientation as well.

Louisiana doesn’t currently have statewide LGBT anti-discrimination laws or policies that would deter businesses from discriminating against same-sex couples.

While that makes it much harder for same-sex couples to easily plan a wedding without fear of discrimination, Ourso hopes the directory will help change that.

“A lot of it was, ‘I don’t want to have to call and wonder [if] this person will be OK with helping us out,’” Ourso says. “This directory is trying to prevent that from happening, prevent more discrimination, prevent more stress added onto the occasion. We took that out of the equation so you don’t have to worry.”

ONLINE:

Check out the CCA’s wedding directory at ccabatonrouge.org/weddings.