Recently, Sara Cunningham shared a post on Facebook offering to “stand in” as the parent for LGBTQ couples if their own moms or dads choose not to on their wedding day. The Oklahoma mom of two and ordained minister made the offer after hearing from several same-sex couples who didn’t have a supportive parent at their nuptials.
Her Facebook post reads: “PSA. If you need a mom to attend your same sex wedding because your biological mom won't. Call me. I'm there. I'll be your biggest fan. I'll even bring the bubbles.”
Cunningham says her own experience of not initially accepting her son as gay is a big part of what led her to be an advocate for and big supporter of the LGBTQ community. She says he came out to her, but she thought it was a phase and didn’t accept reality. But then her son had a talk with her and told her why she needed to support him.
“I’ve sucked it up being your son for 21 years,” she recalls her son saying. “I need you to suck it up and be my mom.”
That was a turning point for Cunningham and now she’s even an ordained minister for Expressions Church and officiates for same-sex weddings. “Everyone needs their mom,” she explains. “To deny that on the most important day of their lives is devastating. I wanted to make the day better.”