cupcake revolution

Should Just Cookies Be Evicted From City-Owned Venue If It Won’t Serve The Gays? Uh, Yeah

Thanks to its refusal to create some rainbow cupcakes for local college queers looking to celebrate National Coming Out Day, David Stockton’s Just Cookies bakery in Indianapolis could face eviction.

With the mayor’s office looking into allegations of anti-gay discrimination over its refusal to fill an order for students at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Just Cookies’ eventual fate could be getting kicked out of City Market, a city-owned venue that must adhere to Indianapolis’s local anti-discrimination ordinance, which bars businesses from refusing customers based on their sexual orientation. The bakery has been on a month-to-month lease since their lease expired July 31.

“That could be grounds for taking away their stand in the market,” says Wayne Schmidt, president of the City Market Board. “I’d hate to lose them, but we can’t tolerate any kind of discrimination like that.”

Meanwhile, Just Cookies’ husband-and-wife owners David (pictured) and Lily Stockton now are bouncing between their “moral values” excuse and their “it’s a business decision” reasoning for turning down the order. Says Lily: “We no longer do special orders like that. We are too busy.”

And here comes the American Family Association of Indiana! Micah Clark, its chief, posits: “You have to wonder, what rights do business owners have? It’s one thing if someone walks into a store and buys a cookie off the shelf, but (the Stocktons) were being asked to become part of the (National Coming Out Day) celebration. To make rainbow cookies for a special event with which the company has a disagreement — I think that goes beyond the pale of what we should expect companies to do.”

Also, companies should be able to refuse selling decorations for the Puerto Rican Day Parade, green food coloring on St. Patrick’s Day, and anything on Christmas Day!

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