The owner of an Ohio bakery reportedly canceled a woman’s birthday cake order after she discovered that the customer was in a same-sex marriage.
Candice Lowe tells ABC 13 that she was on her honeymoon in Florida when she says she received a text message from LeGresha Fizer-Brown, who owns Toledo’s Take the Cake Bakery, nixing her order for her wife Amanda’s birthday cake. In the July 4 message, Fizer-Brown allegedly told Lowe that her business does “not do cakes for same-sex weddings or parties.”
“Candice, I’m sorry…I just realized your [sic] in a same sex relationship,” Fizer-Brown reportedly wrote in the text message. “I wasn’t aware of this exactly until I saw your page.”
The Lowes, who were married just two weeks ago, said they “just wanted to cry” when they received the text. Candice Lowe later posted the alleged message to her Facebook page, and a screenshot appears on the progressive news site, Peacock Panache.
Bakeries and other wedding-related venues have become an unlikely battleground for LGBT rights in recent years, with owners often citing their religious beliefs in turning away same-sex couples seeking cakes and other services. Still, this may be the first case in recent memory where such a flap has erupted over a birthday, as opposed to a wedding, cake.
“A birthday cake has nothing to do with your sexual preference,” Candice Lowe told ABC 13. “Are you saying that, since we’re gay, we can’t eat cake?”
The Huffington Post’s attempts to reach the Take the Cake Bakery via the phone number listed on its Facebook page were unsuccessful and Fizer-Brown reportedly did not respond to requests for comment by ABC 13, NBC 24 and Peacock Panache.
Candice Lowe told NBC 24 that she’s ordered a cake for Amanda from a different bakery, but hopes that Fizer-Brown will learn from the experience.
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