PHOTO BY MAYA LOVRO PHOTOGRAPHY

The election results are in, and LGBTQ+ couples across the country are anxious about a second term for President-elect Donald Trump — namely, the impact his presidency could have on their right to be married.

In anticipation, many queer couples are fast-tracking their engagements, eloping and/or moving up their weddings ahead of the inauguration on Jan. 20. For Pittsburgh couples looking to do so, various businesses are offering their services for free or reduced cost.

City Paper reported that Millvale’s Harold’s Haunt will be doubling as a wedding venue until the inauguration to offer services to LGBTQ+ couples. The bar and queer space plans to be prepared for elopements — with ordained ministers and witnesses on hand — through January.

Likewise, several Pittsburgh photographers are dividing their end-of-year season between holiday photoshoots and wedding shoots for queer couples.

PHOTO BY MAYA LOVRO PHOTOGRAPHY

Kitty Paul, owner of photography business Requiem Images, says she changed her entire December schedule to assist queer couples in the region. “I just want to help as many people as I can through this time — wanted it to be something more than just sign your license and get married pretty fast,” Paul, who is also ordained, told the Trib.

Wedding content creation companies Candid Content Collective and Just Wed Social are offering their services — photos, videos, highlights, reels and other content — as well. Dormont alterations business Topaz Thimble will be offering free standard alterations for couples tying the knot before Trump’s inauguration.

Photographer Maya Lovro, who is also ordained, offered free emergency elopement sessions in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York, and the slots booked quickly. “I wish I could take on more, but I’m at the end of my own busy season. That’s why we’ve all connected with each other,” Lovro told the Trib.

To find these businesses and more, the private Facebook group “Love Is Love 412” was recently created to connect couples with queer and LGBTQ+ ally businesses.

PHOTO BY MAYA LOVRO PHOTOGRAPHY

Trump’s first term saw rights for the LGBTQ+ community scaled back with transgender individuals banned from military service (although that was reversed by the Biden Administration). Though Trump stated in 2016 that he was “fine” with same-sex marriage as it was the law of the land, he appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court during his first term. Should a case challenging the 2015 landmark ruling that legalized same-sex marriage come before the court, the 6-3 conservative majority could overturn the precedent set by Obergefell v. Hodges.

Concern is also centered around Trump’s Vice President pick, J.D. Vance, who opposed the Respect for Marriage Act during his 2022 Senate campaign. Passed in 2022, the act requires that all 50 states recognize same-sex marriages across state lines.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights made a statement regarding the uptick in anxiety across the country, providing reasons they believe there is: “no realistic reason to fear that existing marriages of same-sex couples will be invalidated.”