[caption id="attachment_178009" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Vanessa Collier[/caption]

A Colorado church refused to perform a memorial service for a 33-year-old wife and mother because she was lesbian.

New Hope Ministries of Lakewood, Colorado, canceled services for Vanessa Collier 15 minutes after they were to start—after Collier's family refused to pull a photo of Collier proposing to her wife, Christina, from a memorial video.

One friend, Jose Silva, says he "thought it was a prank" when he was told the funeral was canceled. He says the video should have been reviewed for content when it was dropped off days in advance of the funeral.

"I am a child of a lesbian mother and if my mom was to die, I would want dignity in her death," Jose Silva told ABC 7. "I am against bigotry and stand with my friend Vanessa Collier's family in seeking an apology and refund from Pastor Ray Chavez and New Hope Ministries."

Mourners were left scrambling, until pallbearers were finally forced to rush her body and casket to Newcomer Funeral Home across the street.

"The acts that took place at her funeral were wrong and no family should ever have to go through that," says Silva."That lack of oversight, and lack of personal ideals and values, should never trump being able to celebrate someone's life."

On Tuesday, friends and allies held a Dignity in Death rally , where some held signs with messages like, "You will not find Jesus at New Hope but you will find hypocrisy."

New Hope, which is not commenting on the allegations, describes itself as "a place where those bound by drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence can find an 'Ounce of Hope.'"

Collier, 33, died last month when her gun went off while she was cleaning it. She is survived by her wife and two children.