For decades now, the LGBTQIA+ community has been dealing with the issue of their rights and unfair treatment. Whether it was the inability to find a wedding officiant in OKC, or not being able to find their deserved job because of who they are, there are plenty of issues that they have faced because of who they choose to be.
A monumental part of the struggle for equal rights was their fight for marriage quality. Dating back to the early 70s, the community has been fighting for the right to marry their partners with wedding officiant in Oklahoma. and after over four decades of fighting, the Supreme Court finally made monumental decision to finally allow members of the LGBTQIA+ to marry their preferred partners. The decision recognized that withholding the right to marry from American citizens was unconstitutional.
This was a landmark decision in the community’s fight for equal rights. Of course, the decision also came with its fair share of protections to LGBTQIA+ individuals and their marriages. For one, private businesses could no longer deny serving individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.
There have been a multitude of cases where same-sex couples have been denied service from businesses on the basis of their personal beliefs. And in each of these cases, the couple took the case to court and ended up winning. Each case further solidified that, if the business is a private entity that is not explicitly religious, they cannot deny their services to specific clients on the basis of their sexual orientation.
As the LGBTQIA+ community has received their rights to marry, it has brought about a lot of changes to the wedding industry. But the bigger question is easily that if the introduction of these new customers has changed the wedding officiant industry at all. And the answer is yes.
Making the Industry More Accepting
It is worth looking at wedding officiants in Oklahoma and how they differ from each other. Officiants boil down to two major types, ones that affiliate themselves with a specific religion and ones that serves a legal purpose. Religious wedding officiants in OKC do not have to officiate same-sex weddings, seeing how it goes against their religious beliefs.
However, other wedding officiants do not have any religious affiliations. They serve a more legal purpose than a religious or ceremonial one. They exist to bear witness to the wedding and stand to hear individuals say their vows. Through their presence in a ceremony, they legitimize the union between two individuals in the eyes of the law.
So while a religious wedding officiant refuses to participate in a wedding, they can legally deny that claim. But if a wedding officiant in Oklahoma City who does not have any religious affiliations refuses to offer their services, the couple can take them to court for discrimination.
The first big change that the LGBTQIA+ community fought to the industry was that these non-religious marriage officiants had no reason to deny them their services. Most bigoted wedding officiants would hide behind marriage laws for not wanting to offer their services to certain couples. But with the massive 2015 decision, they are now unable to deny these clients, as they will have to offer their services to them.
If a wedding officiant does not have any religious affiliations, and still denies a couple, they will need to provide just cause. And if the officiant fails to do so, they will be guilty of discriminating against an LGBQTQIA+ couple.
The Rise of Overnight Wedding Officiants
Unlike a dedicated procedure to become a religious wedding officiant, unaffiliated ones do not need to follow the aforementioned procedure. Instead, most people can become a wedding officiant in OKC online, allowing them to legally bind to people in marriage. So now the friends and family of the couple do not have to worry about getting rejected by a wedding officiant and can instead entrust someone close to do the honors.
The process to becoming one is fairly simple, and an individual can be ready to officiate a wedding in a few hours. And it makes obvious sense why most LGBTQIA+ members would want to do something like letting close friends and relatives officiate the wedding. Not only is it much safer, but it will also allow them to get over the fear of getting rejected by a wedding officiant in Oklahoma.
Despite the wedding industry becoming increasingly progressive over the years, the truth of the matter is that people still experience discrimination at the hands of their wedding officiants in OKC. And it only has to happen to a single individual from the community for everyone else to become much more skeptical of something. And when that happens, they will look for ways to minimize risk. And when that is the case, they will want their family or friends to officiate the wedding for them.
Besides, who would not like to have their close friends and family to officiate their wedding given the chance?
Finding the Wedding Officiant That is Right for Your Ceremony
While having your family be there for you during your wedding ceremony feel very special, having inexperienced wedding officiants offering their services can introduce risk to the proceedings. They could possibly miss something or might not even be properly accredited as an officiant. In that case, you want a wedding officiant who is incredibly supportive of your union and has the experience to not miss anything.
In that case, Lifelong Wedding Ceremonies is there to help. Our wedding officiants in Oklahoma City are able to give you the best in terms of our services and will ensure that the entire wedding goes through smoothly.
Furthermore, we also offer a wide range of other wedding services to make that special day perfect. Dr. Makayla Saramosing and Dr. Tinsley Keefe will help ensure everything goes well throughout the wedding and everything is perfect for your big day. they offer premarital counseling and can even help rehearse the wedding to ease out any questions that you might have about the big day.
