Gay marriage will now be allowed anywhere in Stoneridge Estate. Photo / Thinkstock
Gay marriage will now be allowed anywhere in Stoneridge Estate. Photo / Thinkstock
A luxury Queenstown chapel can now be used by gay couples to wed after a same-sex ban was lifted.
Boutique lodge Stoneridge Estate previously allowed same-sex couples to marry in the gardens and the lodge - but not the chapel.
Owner Wayne Gore said the policy was due to his80-year-old mother Da'Vella Gore. She holds a lifetime lease over the chapel that was built 13 years ago.
"We have never not supported same-sex weddings at the property," Gore told the Herald.
"However, my mother of 80 years old, has held the historic Christian understanding of marriage as the loving, faithful union of a man and a woman.
It was only after media contacted the lodge on Friday that they decided to remove the ban, Gore said.
Stoneridge is known to attract high flying guests with former All Black Ali Williams and his partner Casey Green exchanging nuptials there in 2011. Richie and Gemma McCaw's honeymoon was there earlier this year.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in New Zealand since 2013, while civil unions were legalised in 2005.