When Victoria Childress invited Trina Vodraska and Janelle Sieversfor over to her home bakery to sample different wedding cakes, she didn’t realize the two women were the ones getting married. When the lesbian couple informed her, Childress told them, “I’m a Christian, and I do have convictions… I’m sorry to tell you, but I’m not going to be able to do your cake.” But according to Childress she’s not discriminating (of course not), it’s just her right as a business owner to refuse them for their lifestyle.
The lesbian couple says they felt chastised and degraded. Vodraska added, “I know Jesus loves me. I didn’t need her to tell me that. I didn’t go there for that. I just wanted to go there for a cake.” Iowa has a public accommodations law assuring LGBTs couples equal treatment, but the couple has not decided whether or not to file a civil rights complaint against God’s baker.
Via Towleroad
Marriage Equality
Christians are such nice people…. NOT! Stupid brainwashed cunt!
ewe
She stands alone and should be told that she cannot bring gODD in as her defense.
the other Greg
Why would they want to support an anti-gay business? I don’t get it.
Aren’t there any gay guys in Iowa who can bake?
christopher di spirito
Who would want to eat her nasty Christian cake? She would probably spit in it.
xander
I agree with @christopher di spirito and wouldn’ t trust them not to poison the flipping cake. That’s why I research any business I plan to work with +before+ getting involved. Plus, I’d much rather do business with lgbt and q-friendly people when there’s a choice.
the crustybastard
No doubt Jesus would have told thise dykes to go to hell.
Christianity. The religion of love.
Robert in NYC
Why is it that religious right wingers always refer to our orientation as a “lifestyle”, but never use it against straights. Once you hear that word, you know what’s coming out of their mouths next.
I’d like to know if atheist business owners could put up a sign saying…”no religious christian bigots, among others, are welcome”. Would they face prosecution I wonder? If christian business owners of her persuasion can do it, then why shouldn’t anyone else? Why should they be the only ones allowed to do it?
B
No. 3 · the other Greg wrote, “Why would they want to support an anti-gay business? I don’t get it.”
They drove to the bakery, probably spent some time picking out a cake, and then were told that the bakery didn’t provide cakes for lesbian weddings, only to have to drive back home. That could take a good hour. They had already started to make arrangements and went to the bakery for a taste test, only to find at that point that the bakery wouldn’t do business with them because they were lesbians.
According to http://www.irem.org/pdfs/publicpolicy/Anti-discrimination.pdf Iowa has an anti-discrimination law that forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for “public accommodations”, so the bakery is in violation of state law.
If you have to run around trying multiple stores to find something to buy because businesses won’t deal with you based on your sexual orientation, that puts you at a considerable disadvantage compared to everyone else, with real economic consequences. It makes sense to not allow that sort of discrimination – even if fair treatment isn’t important to you, this sort of business practice is a drain on the economy.
If anyone thinks businesses should be able to discriminate on such religious-based grounds, then let’s require that they advertise such restrictions on all promotional material they produce – web sites, phone-book listings, newspaper ads, etc. It’s not
reasonable for members of a minority to be forced to spend their lives on wild goose
chases whenever they decide to buy something.
Regarding comment No. 2, I think it would be great if the bakery brought “God” in as a defense – such a defense would clearly show discrimination (as opposed to a claim that the bakery did not have the technical ability to do what the customer wanted).
RT
A smart business owner turning away power-lesbian couple with money. Wedding cakes range from 300-1000 dollars…
If I was a baker in this economy and someone wanted to place a significant order, I wouldn’t care if they wanted me to make a 4 story-tall Darth Vader wedding cake. I would do it for the business.
RT
But to be serious, there’s no difference between the baker and people who live by Sharia laws.
She’s basically saying, “I don’t do business with non-believers.”
macmantoo
I think it’s her right to refuse to serve anyone. Having said that I agree with “B” she should be required to put that on all forms of advertising so people wouldn’t wasted their time. And I think it would be a great justice for that couple to advertise this bakery discriminates therefore people might want to think twice before doing business with them. The bakery can’t sue the couple because what they’re stating is true. I think the best way is give them adverse advertising.
I’m glad to see that in this economy that people are doing so much business they can afford to turn down business for their reasoning. I don’t force being gay on anyone and I sure don’t want to be force someone’s religion on me.
Mav
“Aren’t there any gay guys in Iowa who can bake?”
^ OMG this.
Seriously, isn’t baking OUR arena, right behind fashion, interior design, and other forms of art that don’t suck?
mwd
@Mav:
Don’t forget real estate!
TMikel
As a Christian, she should not even be in business. She should be in her home with her head veiled, her mouth shut and doing what the man in her life tells her to. It is always amusing to see how these so called Christians choose to follor the Old Testament or Paul instead of what Jesus suggested. What a surprise they will have when they die!
xander
There was a case in NJ where a bridal shop refused to sell a wedding dress to a lesbian couple. A couple hundred people+ wrote negative comments on Yelp, the vast majority of which were then removed from the site because the commenters hadn’t actually used the shop.
So, where else do we go to find out who’s bigoted?
It’s great that Iowa has the non-discrim. regs, yet this couple was turned away despite the laws (and may be charged for that decision if the ladies choose to pursue).
I wish we had more reliable methods of identifying lgbt-friendly businesses or pointing out which ones are unwilling to take our Q-dollars.
MKe
She said in that video from the local news that she “didn’t do the cake because of her convictions for their lifestyle”. She didn’t say anything about gay marriage. Who wants to be this will change when she becomes a NOM video star?
B
No. 14 · TMikel “As a Christian, she should not even be in business.”
As a Christian, she should listen to Jesus (Matthew 22:16-22): “16And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. 22When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.”
The point (I think) was to obey civil laws, with taxes being simply an example. Iowa
has a non-discrimination law that this bakery is violating, so it is hypocritical for the owners to claim they can’t follow the law due to being “Christians”. It’s always fun to throw the Bible in the face of Christian bigots.
Dan
Clearly Jesus sent the lesbians to test her and she failed; Jesus said “that which you do unto the least of these, you do unto me” and since she discriminated against them, she discriminated against Jesus. Too many Christians forget one of the main lessons of Christianity: if you cannot love all your brothers and sisters whom you can see, you can never love God whom you cannot see.
richard pratt
Would you discriminate against a pedeophile? or a murderer, or a thief? People who indulge in unnatural behaviour offend against other peoples sense of decency, and always have and always will, pay the price. This is the Community`s way of ensuring a reasonable degree of conformity, and protection for it`s weaker members and children.Homosexuality is unnatural behaviour which perverts the function of the body- it is a barren, empty surrender to sexual sensuality and lust. Any normal decent person is disgusted and repelled by it. This world is speeding to hell in a shopping trolley- the promotion of Sodomy is only one of the symptoms. Be thankful that there are still people who resist the “GAYSTAPO”,despite the commercial cost and vilification .
Phil
Were you born dumb or did your mother poison you out of spite?
1. It is illegal in the state of Iowa to discriminate based on sexuality. Herp derp.
2. It is not illegal to be “one of the gays!” It is illegal to own child pornography and to commit lewd acts with a minor. (It’s not illegal to just be a pedophile, who knew.) It is also illegal to murder and thieve. Your comparison is a poor one.
3. Homosexuality: totes happens in nature.
4. Just because something offends your sense of decency doesn’t mean you get to punish them for it. That’s what laws are for and the laws are decided by the representatives of the people, who in turn are kept in check by a hopefully objective judicial system.
5. “Weaker member’s and children”. You mean, like, homosexuals, who are discriminated upon, like in this story? And their children, also discriminated upon?
6. You’re dumb and ugly.
7. You know what else perverts the functions of the body? Antibiotics. Pacemakers. You know what’s just perverted? Sex.
8. Wait, seriously, your argument against homosexuality is that sometimes they have sex, and that sex is bad? And you call us perverts. Cripes.
9. Who the hell promotes sodomy? Republican senators? The Catholic church? College football coaches?
10. Haha, Godwin.
11. You’re still dumb.
Robert in NYC
No, 19, closet case and self loather, end of!
Robert in NYC
No, 19, repub lican closet case and self loather, end of!
Robert in NYC
No, 19, republican shill closet case and self loather, end of!
blatherer
Someone left that bitch’s cake out in the rain.
Dan
@ richard Talk about offending decency. Adam and Eve betrayed God, not Adam and Steve. According to the bible, Adam and Eve only started having children after they were damned for all time, meaning reproductive hetero sex according to the bible is a sign of being evil, cursed, damned by God, and kicked out of paradise. Adam and Eve were the greatest criminals in all of human storytelling. And since you said unnatural behavior is evil, the founders of Christianity according to the bible were 1) mass murderers (Moses killed countless slaves as a prince of Egypt, King David slaughtered hundreds and cut off their genetalia according to the bible), 2) polygamists (Moses, Abraham, Samuel, David, etc.), 3) child killers who routinely murdered disobedient children, and 4) incestuous (Lott and his daughters) – so to ensure children are protected from perversion and unnatural behavior you have to eliminate Christianity and Islam entirely because they were founded by undeniable perverts who were wholely unnatural in their behavior towards each other and children; the largest groups of polygamists on the planet right now are millions of heterosexual Christians and Muslims around the world practicing their “religion” so your argument about protecting children from sickos means you have just argued for the end of these religions to ensure polygamy, mass murder, and incest aren’t glorified via their so-called “blessed and god-annointed” founders.
The largest pedophile groups on the planet are religious groups – Christians, Mormons, Hindus, and Muslims. To protect all the little girls and boys being raped by heteros (the overwhelming majority of rapists and child molesters self identify as hetero regardless of the gender of their victims), these religions – the source of so much evil – must end. For the good of the children – gay and straight.
The only reason rightwing religious types try to scapegoat gay people is because the rightwingers don’t want any critical thinking about the religions they support. Any intelligent adult realizes the insanity built into archaic religions created by longsince dead people who hated their crappy lives and each other.
4starmovie
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If a bunch of radical anti-gay/lesbian/transgender evangelicals asked me to bake a cake for a rally denouncing equal marriage, I’d like to be able to say fuck you and take your business elsewhere without threat of legal action if I chose to not to. That said I personally would take the money to make the cake and donate some or all of the money to a gay cause courtesy of them.
the crustybastard
ATTENTION FRIENDLY IOWANS:
Get your opposite-sex BFF and make an appointment with Christian cake-maker. Spend an inordinate amount of time perusing and discussing the various options.
Right before handing over credit card say, “Oh, wait…aren’t you that bigot who discriminated against that nice couple of girls who just wanted you to sell them a damn cake for their wedding? We wouldn’t dream of doing business with you. Good day.”
At the very least, she deserves to have some discrimination thrown back on her.
ewe
@richard pratt: your behavior on this blog is unnatural. I take it you speak from personal experience? Fess up Bitch. That’s if by chance you didn’t just come here to take your dump without flushing leaving your vile stink behind. I am thankful that most people can make more sense than you. You speak for no one but your ignorant small little self. You are a kook and you get off on it.
Henry
@ewe: and posting anti-Semitic slime like you do on a gay blog ISN’T unnatural? That’s funny, Charles Rozier. You’re a laugh riot.
Phil I Steen
This lady respectfully declined making the wedding cake.
Why do gays have the right to force acceptance of their sexual CHOICE on everyone else.
We don’t have any rights to be accepted in our choices.
There are consequences to all life choices.
People do not have to accept me.
I am willing to suffer the burdens of my beliefs. I share them with you if only if you wish.
If you choose to wear the hat, don’t expect everyone to admire it.
Quit whining. There are real problems in the world, and your gay agenda is not one of them.
Phil H
@Marriage Equality: That’s a very hateful statement.
Shannon1981
@richard pratt: Seems like you’re suffocating in that closet, man. Come on out with the rest of us! Taste the rainbow, it’s delicious!
Shannon1981
Now, to the story- find a gay baker. HELLOOO!!! We’re gay. We don’t need heteros to do this or anything else artsy. Gay men are the best bakers, decorators, designers, realtors, what have you. Lesbians will do your carpentry, work on your cars, fix your plumbing, et al. Win Win. Avoid this bullshit altogether.
Not to perpetuate stereotypes, but its not like queers have to put up with this crap.
Paul
Why didn’t the girls just go to a lesbian bakery? God knows there are enough of them around. That seems to be the only thing lesbians want to do is bake. That, and discriminate against men.