“It wasn't a wedding cake, it was just a birthday cake”
Credit: NBC24.com
In the latest display of bakery bigotry, one Ohio cake maker refused to complete an order for a woman after discovering she was a lesbian on social media.
According to ATTN, LeGresha Fizer-Brown, the business owner of Take the Cake Bakery in Toledo, Ohio, allegedly declined to bake a birthday cake for Candice Lowe, who’d been hoping to surprise her wife with the treat. Shortly after placing her order, Lowe said she received a stunning text from Fizer-Brown that read, “Candice, I'm sorry...I just realized your [sic] in a same sex relationship and we do not do cakes for same sex weddings or parties. I'm so sorry. I wasn't aware of this exactly until I saw your page. Take care :)”
Credit: NBC24.com
Credit: NBC24.com
Understandably angered and hurt by the situation, Lowe told ABC 13, “It wasn't a wedding cake, it was just a birthday cake. A birthday cake has nothing to do with your sexual preference.” Neither ABC 13 nor NBC 24 were able to contact Fizer-Brown for comment, though plenty of local customers where quick to share their own comments on Facebook and Yelp in reaction to the bakery owner’s behavior.
In Ohio, it is still legally acceptable to refuse service to people based on their sexual preference, even though an "Ohio Religious Freedom Restoration Act” proposal expired in 2014 due to concern it would perpetuate discrimination. While there are websites like Gay Friendly Biz and Gay Friendly Market to help LGBTQ consumers find tolerant businesses, it shouldn’t be this hard for a community so large to spend money in America. Beyond devaluing basic human decency, rejecting customers based on their sexual preference is foundationally un-American. If we’re prevented from wielding power with our pocketbooks, there’s no limit to the ways our voices can be silenced.
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