Celebrity Chef Offers to Bake Free Wedding Cake for Lesbian Couple After Oregon Bakery Refused
A lesbian couple who was recently denied service at a bakery in Oregon will be getting a pretty sweet consolation prize: A free wedding cake courtesy of celebrity chef Duff Goldman.
The Ace of Cakes star tweeted yesterday that he'd be happy to offer the couple a free cake to make up for the one they were refused at Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham.
Last month, bakery owner Aaron Klein reportedly told an unnamed customer that he would not prepare a cake for her same-sex wedding because he believed homosexuals "were abominations to the Lord."
Speaking with KATU, Klein denied using those words, but did acknowledge his refusal to bake cakes for same-sex weddings.
"They can buy my stuff. I'll sell them stuff. I'll talk to them, it's fine," said Klein, who added that he draws the line at marriages, because "marriage is a religious institution ordained by God."
He continued: "I'd rather have my kids see their dad stand up for what he believes in then to see him bow down because one person complained."
Goldman took note of the story after it posted on the Huffington Post's Food vertical.
"I saw this story and I was like, "Wait — I can do something, there's injustice involving a cake!" the Charm City Cakes owner told HuffPost Live. "For a cake decorator to really feel like he really needed to take a stand…it just makes absolutely no sense. It's petty, it's small…this man has wrapped up his hatred in the cloak of religion."
And Klein's stand could end up costing him more than a couple of customers and a bad reputation.
According to KATU, the Oregon Equality Act of 2007 expressly prohibits businesses from discriminating against customers on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Klein and his wife Melissa, the bakery's co-owner and namesake, have two weeks to explain themselves to the Oregon Department of Justice.
[photo via AP]