Lorraine Fleming of Cake Pros Says Jesus Told Her Not To Bake For The Gays

It’s happened again: WeddingCakeGate.

This time it’s Lorraine Fleming, the owner of Cake Pros in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania who has refused to bake a cake … bake a mother-effing cake … for a same-sex wedding because she says it violates her Christian right to bigotry, homophobia and just plain discrimination.

And I, for one, am so sick of this shiz.

It all started when Jennifer and Bethany Petrich wanted a cake for a vow renewal ceremony and Jennifer’s mother, who was planning the event, scheduled an appointment with Cake Pros to taste some cakes. During the conversation it came up that it was a cake for :::gasp::: two women, and a couple of days later, before the appointment, Lorraine Fleming called to say that Cake Pros — 'pro' is short for professional which does not apply to this particular business — would not bake a cake because they don’t ‘do’ same-sex weddings … or vow renewal ceremonies.

Lorraine Fleming used the ‘Christian’ excuse for denying service, and then added the she had … wait for it … it’s rich … “talked to Jesus for two weeks” and that because the cake was for a couple of Lesbians Jesus told her not to bake the cake.

Yup, she's saying that Jesus said, Oh hell no.

Here’s the deal, Cake Pros … and Jesus , if you’re listening and actually said what she says you said … you are not being asked to participate in the wedding; you are not being asked to condone it; you are not being asked to sanctify it, dance at it, celebrate it or even like it. You are being asked to do what you do: bake an effing cake.

And it doesn’t matter what the people who order the cake and pay for the cake do with it once it leaves your shop. These women could take it out in a rowboat and set fire to it and it’s not your business.

It’s.Not.Your.Business. Your business is to bake cakes.

Jennifer and Bethany took to Facebook to let everyone know about their story … as folks should when a public business refuses services to them … and the bakery has received a lot of attention. Lorraine Fleming says some of her employees have been harassed and that, too, is wrong.

Go on and spread the word that Cake Pros won’t sell cakes for same-sex weddings, and talk about Lorraine Fleming all you want, but her employees do not set policy, or make decisions; hell, her employees might have loved baking that cake because, you know, they’re there to work and get paid … for baking.

Lorraine Fleming has said she sorry “as far as hurt feelings" and then, naturally, played the I have gay folks in my family card, but this is about religion and the Baby Jeebus and if the Bay Jeebus said Don’t Serve The Gays, well, she’d probably tell her gay family to go away, too.

Cuz that’s Christian love, y’all.

And for those of you who say, “Why not just go to a different bakery” well, I agree. But I also think the word should be spread that a public business is discriminating against people based on sexual orientation.

I mean, would we be acting as if Jennifer and Bethany are over-reacting if they happened to be a Black heterosexual couple refused service? No, because that’s a crime, but discriminating against The Gays is still legal in much of the country, and unless, and until, we point out every single business owner who hides behind religion to refuse service, our fight will never truly be won.

Rant over. Soap box stored away for another day.

Except … oh yeah … if you live anywhere near Cake Pros, try a different bakery.

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W.W. Bridal Boutique Is A "Straights Only" Business

First it was the bakers, who refused to bake cakes for same-sex couples to celebrate their weddings. And then it was the florists, who said ‘Hell no’ when it came to supplying flowers for a gay couple’s ceremony. So, is it really any surprise that Victoria miller, owner of W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where same-sex marriage is legal, has refused to sell a wedding dress to a same-sex couple?

Not really surprising, though it isn’t any less frustrating.

Two women — who wish to remain anonymous — called W.W. Bridal Boutique to schedule a fitting for herself and her partner. She was reportedly placed on hold for several minutes, and then told, “Unfortunately she would not be able to schedule an appointment for us because they currently do not service same-sex couples — it’s just not something they do.” She was told that servicing a same-sex couple by selling them a couple of dresses would be a violation of their “religious beliefs.”

Wait. W.W. Bridal Boutique, a business, an inanimate object, has “religious beliefs”? Of course it doesn’t; the beliefs are those of the owner, Victoria Miller, who says that "providing those two girls dresses for a sanctified marriage would break God's law."

Now, the Bloomsburg Town council is involved, saying they will consider whether to propose legislation to ban businesses from refusing to serve gays and lesbians. Miller, for her part, spoke through her attorney to say that she has a "liberty interest" in refusing to take part in a process that would violate "firmly and honestly held religious beliefs."

Let me make this perfectly queer for you, Victoria Miller: you are not being asked to take part in the ceremony; you are not being asked to condone the wedding; you, naturally, would never be invited to the wedding. What you are being asked to do is to open your business, your public business, to everyone and to make a sale.

But if you don’t want money from The Gays then please post a sign in the window of W.W. Bridal Boutique that tells the world that you are a bigot and a homophobe and hiding behind some notion of religious belief in running your business. And please be ready to have The Gays and The Gay Friendlies take their business elsewhere. But do not, when your business fails because of your intolerance, complain that The Gays did this to you.

You did it to yourself.

via Raw Story