On Saturday January 10th, hundreds of friends and family were mourning the loss of Vanessa Collier, one half of a lesbian couple and the mother of two children, aged 7 and 11, when the pastor of the New Hope Ministries stopped the open-casket funeral and decreed that service would not go on unless all pictures showing Collier (on the left in photo) with her wife, Christina, were removed.

So, what did Collier’s loved ones do? They picked everything up — including the casket — and relocating the funeral to a mortuary across the street.

Collier’s longtime friend Victoria Quintana called the experience “humiliating.”

Regardless of personal beliefs, all people deserve the right to have their memory honored. I'm calling on Pastor Ray Chavez to make a public apology for his cruel actions towards the grieving friends and family of Vanessa Collier.