His Wedding was Interrupted by a Hateful Rant, Now, Oscar de las Salas Speaks Up and Shares What's Coming up
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By: Cindy G Castillo
It was a beautiful afternoon in Coronado, Calif. Sunday, Aug. 17th and Arizonans Oscar de las Salas and Gary Jackson were ready for the most important day of their lives – their wedding.
By the end, an incident of hatred would change everything.
They picked Coronado’s Centennial Park as the perfect location to say their “I do’s” joined by some 30 guests from across the country.
They are both from port cities — Gary is from Seattle, Washington and Oscar is from Barranquilla, Colombia — and share the same love for the ocean.
It was an end of the summer wedding. A ferry would take them across the ocean into a small island, where they would walk to Centennial Park and the ceremony would be held at sunset.
Guests were asked to wear dark colors. Gary and Oscar would wear matching light-colored suits to stand out from the rest.
Five o’clock came, and it was time to get ready. Six o’clock, they made their way for pictures capturing the perfect moment. At eight o’clock, it was time for the ceremony to begin.
Walking to the altar, they were greeted with cheers and applause.
At the altar, they faced each other. Music started playing with loud wind in the background. Then the first scream happened.
“Homos. Go home homos.”
The wedding guests turn around.
The shouts were ignored and the wedding continues. A passage of the Bible is read – 1 Corinthians. But right in the middle, the shouting continues.
“M**** F****, Go home.”
In that moment, the couple realizes the attack was against them.
“In that moment I feared. I feared for ourselves and for the crowd that was there with us. What if this guy has a gun and opens fire?” De las Salas said.
A few of the guests attempted to take pictures of the aggressors, but weren’t successful.
In one photo, Gary can be seen looking and turning towards the yelling.
“No one taught us to be gay. We chose to come out to the public and tell people … whatever your emotions are, you have to respect,” De las Salas says in response to the incident.
Their story was picked up nationally by news stations, and soon after airing, Oscar received thousands of e-mails showing support from all over the world.
“It has been an out pour of love. A lot of e-mails from mothers saying, ‘I would never want my kid to go through the same thing on his special day.”
The couple has filed a police report. De las Salas said he isn’t looking for the aggressor to be charged with disorderly conduct or a hate crime, but he wants the public to know who he is.
“He destroyed a very special moment of someone’s life. This is the only time I’m going to get married in my life,” he said.
In the end, a City of Coronado employee picked up their story, and decided that that wasn’t the way Coronado receives new people; they are a proud community.
Therefore, a re-do wedding is coming up for the couple on October 11th, 2014. They will be flying back to Coronado, all expenses paid, to celebrate their special day all over again.
The mayor of the City of Coronado is expected to attend along with hundreds of guests so the couple can receive the fairy tale ending they truly deserve.