Amusement Park Cancels Wedding Contest Rather Than Include Gay Couple

When one gay couple organized a protest against an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, for excluding same-sex couples from a wedding contest, the park canceled the promotion rather than allow them to participate, reports the Sandusky Register.

Cedar Point amusement park had planned an event that would select 13 couples to have a wedding ceremony in the park on Friday, September 13 as part of Cedar Point's Halloween-themed "HalloWeekends."

Scott Kenimond and Eric Morrison, a gay couple from Akron, were both big fans of the amusement park and had been considering holding a commitment ceremony at Cedar Point, so they were thrilled when they came across an advertisement for the contest. However, their delight soon turned to disappointment when they saw the ad contained the following disclaimer, "Due to marriage laws in Ohio, weddings are limited to male-female couples only."

Determined to make their roller-coaster romance a reality, the two urged friends and supporters to contact the amusement part via Twitter and other social networking sites to request that same-sex couples be included in the promotion.

"It doesn't matter if it's legal or not," Morrison told the Register. "You should be able to have a commitment ceremony. For God's sakes, you're getting married by a zombie."

Nevertheless, when the couple's protest began to gain attention, the amusement park quickly canceled the contest saying, "Cedar Point does not take any official stance on political issues."

Morrison called Cedar Point's decision to cancel the promotion "cowardly," adding, "I'm disappointed they would choose to go that way rather than stand behind their LGBT community."