When a pregnant mother is looking for a photographer to take maternity photos, typically the criteria is the photographer’s body of work. You wouldn’t think their sexual orientation would have anything to do with it. A gay professional photographer is still a professional photographer. Unfortunately, after a pregnant mom fired her, Alabama-based photographer Faith Grace saw that sometimes that’s all people care about.
The pregnant mother, identified only as McKenna, initially hired photographer Faith Grace to take maternity photos. However, this being the age of social media, McKenna immediately began looking through Faith’s accounts. When she found LGBTQ imagery and rainbow flags in several of Faith’s pictures, she immediately questioned Faith through text.
First, the pregnant mother texts photographer Faith Grace inquiring whether she is gay or has a family member that is gay. Faith texts McKenna back to inform her that yes, in fact, she is a gay professional photographer. Then, right away, the pregnant mom fired Faith, while also sharing her opinions on LGBTQ people.
“I don’t want someone who’s gay to take my pictures,” the mother texts photographer Faith Grace, “It’s just not right.” McKenna continued saying that she did not want her “5-year-old child to think that being gay is OK/right.” She also seemed to imply that a gay professional photographer would somehow influence her own child’s sexual orientation.
After the pregnant mom fired photographer Faith Grace, Faith posted the text conversation to her social media accounts. “RT & share this to show people that hatred & discrimination still exists & it NEEDS to stop. This breaks my heart,” Faith wrote in the Tweet. Since being posted, her tweet has been shared over 38,000 times.
Faith received an outpouring of support from other Twitter users. Many of them were just as angry that someone would fire a gay professional photographer for no other reason than the fact that they are gay. After the tweet gained so much popularity, Faith set her social media accounts to private.
Despite the fact that this pregnant mom fired her, photographer Faith Grace does not seem to be backing down. If anything, the whole unfortunate incident may have just given her more publicity. Either way, Faith’s encounter with McKenna sheds light on the continuing issue of homophobia in the United States.
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