"What if he simply said he hates gays and that's why he won't bake them a cake?"
Well, that would be hate speech and they'd want to put him in prison for 700 years. He'd probably have to say "I love gay people a lot but, out of an abundance of love for them, cannot bake them a cake that would imperil their immortal souls".
But it interests me that you mention baking them a cake, because I'm thinking that there must be something more to this wedding cake business than I'm picturing. I'm thinking that if the gay couple in question merely came into his store, saw a cake for sale on display in one of the cases, and said "we'd like to purchase that cake", I don't see how the guy can refuse to sell them the cake, and how this becomes an issue. Otoh, if they say, we want to work with you as our gay wedding cake consultant to create the perfect custom made cake for our gay wedding, festooned with gay themes and sporting a specially made or ordered gay wedding cake topper, then I can see the guy saying "not a cake and/or cake service that we lovingly offer (see above)". Or is the baker's position that he has a heterosexual wedding cake that he can't sell to the gay couple because of the use they intend it for - to be eaten at a gay wedding? My guess is that the baker really just wants to say "I don't want you in my face about your gay wedding", but is discovering that American freedom is not what it used to be. My 2 cents. |
