Iowa Christian Wedding Cake Baker Refuses Service to Lesbian Couple

Posted by Kevin Farrell on Nov 14, 2011 in Crime | 38 comments

Victoria Childress to Trina Vodraska and Janelle Sievers: Let them eat (someone else's) cake

Trina Vodraska and Janelle Sievers are going to the chapel, and they’re gonna get married. And since the lesbian couple lives in Iowa, their marriage will very much be recognized as a full, legal marriage, thankyouverymuch.

Which is why wedding dress shops, florists, and wedding cake bakers are required by state law to treat the couple just as they would any other couple. Except that’s not what happened when the women attended a tasting session at homophobic Victoria Childress’ cake shop.

“They came in and she introduced herself, and I said, ‘Is this your sister?’ (She said,) ‘No, this is my partner.’ I said, ‘OK,’ and I asked them to sit down and I said, ‘We need to talk,’” said Victoria Childress, who runs her cake baking business from home. “I said, ‘I’ll tell you I’m a Christian, and I do have convictions.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you, but I’m not going to be able to do your cake.”

“I didn’t do the cake because of my convictions for their lifestyle. It is my right as a business owner. It is my right, and it’s not to discriminate against them. It’s not so much to do with them, it’s to do with me and my walk with God and what I will answer (to) him for,” Childress said.

Except that it’s not her right, and yes, it is to discriminate against them. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Iowa in 2009. Full-on (Well, as full as state law rather than federal law can be) marriage – not civil unions, not domestic partnerships. MARRIAGE. Refusing to serve a couple whose marriage will be recognized as 100% equal under the eyes of Iowa to any heterosexual couple’s is the very definition of discrimination.

One’s faith, in this case a very loose interpretation of Christianity (Who would Jesus refuse service to?) does not somehow nullify one’s illegal business practices, just as being an alcoholic does not somehow manifest a get out of jail free card after being arrested for a DUI. To even suggest otherwise in Iowa is idiotic.

Business owners do have the right to refuse service, but NOT because of sexual orientation.The 2007 Iowa Civil Rights Act makes discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity illegal. Not frowned upon, not a controversial issue – ILLEGAL. Childress has committed a crime, and should be prosecuted under the law.

You can watch Childress accidentally implicate herself in the crime by babbling on about her supposed rights to a local news station HERE.

Thoughts?

(via KCCI)

supremebuddy

More hate has been spewed in the name of God/Jesus/Mohammed than in anytime in history…so sad!

Anonymous

Sorry, but internet hate messaging passed all other expressions of hate up a long time ago. More hate has been expressed on the internet for any reason you can imagine (I hate you because of your sports team. I hate you because you’re Republican. I hate you because you’re American. I hate you because you wrote a song called Friday that I hate. Etc.).

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002554226606 Kindra Pring Eubanks

So don’t but the cake from them. Why give your money to someone who’s homophobic anyway? I say take your business elsewhere and be sure all your friends do the same. She’ll be singing a different tune soon enough…but I can tell you that if we make this a criminal trial the anti-gay crowd is going to jump all over it and go “SEE! THEY WANT TO FORCE OUR CHURCHES AND CHRISTIAN BUSINESSES TO MARRY THEM” which isn’t what we want I hope, because I don’t want to be married in a church that doesn’t want me or take my business to a place that’s going to possibly use my money to hurt my cause. Don’t criminalize it – treat it like we would treat any other homophobic business. Boycott it until it’s begging you to come back, then do as Jesus would do. Say “Sorry, gave you that chance you shut the door on me.”

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002554226606 Kindra Pring Eubanks

That and if we it to court, it’ll garner more media attention which will inevitably give them more business (and more fans from the Christian right) and frankly I’m sick of pouring the attention on these nitwits in the hopes that it’ll get them to go away. It didn’t work for Westboro and it isn’t going to work now. Westboro has gotten significantly less annoying since the gay community decided its time was better spent ignoring them.

http://twitter.com/DarklyDivine Serenity

But people need to be punished for discriminating. You simply can’t just say “Oh boycott them, that’ll show them.” That’s bull. And like it or not, not everyone has the same religious views, so just because this woman believes in one way, doesn’t mean everyone else does. These people, like this woman, are radical and need to be dealt with. You can’t just smack them on the forehead and it’s okay. You have to stand your ground, and fight back. We can boycott them, but also take them to court, because they are breaking the law.

http://twitter.com/kpringologist Kindra Pring

Vengeance as a motivation for our judiciary system doesn’t work. If you look at other developed countries, the judiciary system is a way for people to be compensated for pain, suffering and loss and rehabilitation for criminal.

And as I said, that’ll just turn these people into martyrs. To them, it’ll be proof of what they’ve been scaring people into believing for years. You want to give that to them? I guarantee it will be infinitely more embarrassing and punish them properly to simply not give them the attention and business.
http://www.facebook.com/g.alex.fox Khai Fox

Sometimes the high road is also strategically advantageous. And would you really trust your wedding cake to someone you legally forced to bake it against their will because of your sexual orientation? It’s not like they ordered the cake and on the day of the wedding, the baker trashed it because it was a lesbian wedding. It was just a tasting. Yes, she was wrong. Yes, it’s a terrible experience. However, going into battle on this issue will only end up hurting our side. You have to pick your battles carefully and with purpose. You can’t just lash out at everyone if you think they deserve it. That’s no way to win. You have to keep your head and be smart. Backing off of this can be a way to show that gay marriage won’t affect these people. It can become an argument for gay marriage.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=2008795 SJ Hosin

Chiiiiiillllle, if you don’t give those lesbians their wedding cake! Stop Playin!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_445NGS2AQKYHMKW7BISYABZNAY Michael

Sue her for every dime she has so she can be closer to god…..
meh2

the dumb bimbo probably would’ve gotten away with it, if she hadn’t spelled out her reasons for not giving them their damn cake. bigots never seem to have any intelligence at all…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1459216265 Amanda Rae Metcalf

I hate to equate homophobia to racism, but I am very reminded of when African Americans weren’t served by businesses. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now. It is also very unchristian of her. Jesus said love thy neighbor, all thy neighbors.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=743899867 Patrick Barrett

I almost feel sorry for somebody so unbelievably stupid that she thinks it’s a sin to sell cake to lesbians. Almost, but not quite.
http://www.facebook.com/Juniorb114 Will Bennett

I agree with Kindra. It is her right to refuse money from anyone. When shes sitting at home, alone in the dark because she cant pay her bills because she cant sell her cakes because shes an idiot, then by all means let her. Dont feel sorry for her.. Fell good about going to the next guy whos in it to win it!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5ZMTPKMH7T5XVUEFOW3NZXT3NU tiffany

I’m from iowa, and I’m ashamed that someone from Iowa thinks this is acceptable. When are these christians going to learn that Jesus did not judge anybody, he just loved them.

Anonymous

Tell me this. Would Jesus have acted as preacher for them and married them? My guess is no.

What you have to realize is that there is a difference here between offering a service to people and being asked to sanction what they do. If your business is built around doing both (so that in creating the cake for the couple, you feel you are investing in their union), then it is much more complicated than simply offering a service.

It’s not fair to ask the woman to give her blessing for something she believes is not in anyone’s best interest. I can see where asking her to make a contribution to the wedding itself in this manner would seem like crossing that line, particularly if this is how she always views her service.

E C

It’s ILLEGAL in Iowa to refuse service based on sexual orientation. ILLEGAL=criminal. What the hell don’t you understand about that? If she’s so jesus lovin’ she shouldn’t be running a business in the state of Iowa. She should have advertised her policy of discrimination in a public forum. She wasted those ladies’ time, hurt their feelings, and broke the law!

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Alden/100001726128849 Mark Alden

Kindra (below) makes a very valid point. This is not the sort of thing that should be prosecuted, even if it could be. The NY clerk who refused to issue a marriage license was a public servant and rightly lost her job. This is private enterprise, which generally has the right to refuse service to anyone. Who are the primary clientele of wedding cake bakers? Answer: Young people, who by and large understand that racial and gender distinctions are meaningless. This will get bounced around the social media circles and it won’t be long before it’s known that Bigot’s Bakery is a place to avoid.

E C

You are an idiot. The article stated that refusing to serve someone based on sexual orientation is ILLEGAL in Iowa. That means it’s a crime. Criminals should be prosecuted! I can’t possibly dumb it down any more than that.

http://www.facebook.com/theafner Thomas Ryan Heafner

Well not to sound like the bad guy… But.. i do think that what she did was wrong. BUT she was at least human to them an wasn’t mean or disrespectful. I would want someone like that to turn me down for that reason rather than a complete bigot and jerk
Anonymous

I can’t believe I am reading this, people who say just boycott them. Has anyone ever see the film “Mississippi Burning”? I remember the 1960′s. I remember when African Americans were widely and illegally discriminated against. I heard these same arguments then. If boycotting was the only option used and not prosecution under the law, then today African Americans would till be disenfranchised, not allowed to even register to vote, forced to sit on the back of the bus, eating at separate lunch counters, attending segregated class rooms, and peeing in segregated toilets in absolutely every gas station below the Mason Dixon Line. The same kind of thing was once true for the Irish (“No Irish need apply.”) the Jews, the Italians, on and on; victims of bigotry and discrimination. This is why we have laws. What this bakery did was not just a minor inconvenience, IT WAS ILLEGAL! Without these laws being implemented America would today be a very different place.

E C

Gays seriously need to get it together. Yes, prosecute people that break anti-discrimination laws! Yes, refuse to give money to religious organizations that refuse to acknowledge us as equals. When I see gay people buying products from companies that discriminate against their LGBT employees or donating money to religious-linked causes, it makes me want to slap the shit out of them. Stop supporting haters, gay people. ONLY SUPPORT GAY AND GAY-FRIENDLY BUSINESSES.

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http://www.facebook.com/adam.m.chrisman Adam M. Chrisman

I have no problem with them denying to make a cake for the couple, but perhaps the way that they refused bothers me. It’s private business and they are allowed to deny service to anyone. A few people have been relating this to racial discrimination through historic context, but I really do not see the relevance. During that time, many business were refusing services, but I only see one cake shop refusing service in this situation. If Iowa is open for the most part to same sex marriages, then there are probably various other cake shops, florists, and dress shops which will cater to them. Do you think racial discrimination is somehow dead now? I’m sure that businesses still refuse service to other minority groups, but they just don’t blatantly state it’s because of their race. This is one factor that separates us from other minority groups. We are so openly discriminated against, whereas most of American society looks down upon people who use racial slurs. I feel that this, if anything, is what we can take away from this event.

E C

Whether or not you have a problem with it does not matter. It is ILLEGAL. Bottom line. Childress broke the law and wasted those ladies time! If she didn’t want gay business she should advertise herself publicly as not serving gays. Then her business could have been shut down before those women went to her establishment. If she’s so proud of her bigotry she should have advertised it beforehand.

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E C

They should sue and make sure to spend all the money on gay and gay-friendly businesses. Yes, it is time that we flat out refuse to give money to christians. Boycott all christian businesses.
http://www.facebook.com/michaelrcooke Michael Cooke

Really i disagree the business owner should be criminally prosecuted. Just tell people she’s a bigot and won’t do work for gay weddings, and Gay folks won’t give her business, nor will straight folks with gay friends and/or family.

Criminal prosecution will just fuel the fantasy of discrimination against Christians, let them remain the discriminators, let them answer to God why they failed to love their neighbor as themselves.
http://www.facebook.com/Akhenaton919 Aaron A Walker

I wonder why it is that the options of boycott AND legal action are being treated as mutually exclusive. It is illegal, it is economically dumb, it is not just one big mistake it is two big mistakes. The bakery should get the consequences for both mistakes. Her motivation is secondary she is discriminating and being a unintelligent business woman
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Perez/100000474075475 Michael Perez

So don’t use them. Find someone else to make the cake. Then use the internet to put this person out of buisness. Word of mouth and bad reviews can run a buisness in to the ground. Just make sure everything is true.
Samantha Lawrence

I hate it when stuff like this happens, but I think that if I shouldn’t be forced to sit down, shut up, and marry a man like society wants me to, religious people shouldn’t be forced to make a cake for me and my wife if they don’t want to. Yes, it is discrimination, but when we put up a big stink over cakes and wedding photos, we’re only hurting the advancement of our marriage rights. One of the big qualms people had with gay marriage in New York was the fear that small business owners who did wedding photos, cakes, etc. would be forced by law to take part in gay unions that they may not agree with. Now while I feel it’s sad that people would turn down business to two people who will get married regardless of your “personal convictions,” I ultimately don’t care. I would never want to force someone to make a cake or take photos for mine and my girlfriend’s future wedding. They’re not worth my money or business and I don’t feel that they should be forced to participate. A lot of Christians truly do fear gay rights because they fear it will encroach on their rights to practice their own religion. I believe that it’s important to have just as much respect for the freedoms of others as we have for our own. How can I ask a Christian to respect my right to marry another woman and then disrespect their right not to be a part of it?
http://www.facebook.com/rabblesthebinx Brian Frang

The first amendment prohibits the establishment of religion, but it also prohibits making any laws that block free exercise of religion. The law is, by nature, unconstitutional. If we can’t prohibit gay marriage based on religious vies, it is hypocritical to force people to go against their views in their personal lives. Religious nuts need to respect that gay people deserve the same rights as straight people, but we also need to respect that they don’t have to like it. if she doesn’t want to make the cake, why force her to? Isn’t that being just as intolerant?

http://www.facebook.com/pmjenk Peter Jenkins

The first amendment prohibits the establishment of religion by the government. Not the establishment of religion. Please remember that religious conservatives used to say that serving ‘blacks’ was against their religion, do you think that we should have allowed them to continue in their beliefs?

http://www.facebook.com/wshannonthomas William Thomas

Victoria’s Cake Cottage: 420 NW 51st Pl Des Moines, IA 50313- Email: [email protected]- Call: (515) 729-0253
http://www.facebook.com/wshannonthomas William Thomas

people have to wait on people they don’t like all the time…I personally believe that christian fundamentalists are evil….literally evil…yet i’m not allowed to refuse service to them based on my belief that they are EVIL….to support this as a gay person and say it’s going to make things harder is absurd…these people aren’t going to support us no matter how easy going we are. It’s time to put the screws to them and use the law to our advantage
http://www.facebook.com/wshannonthomas William Thomas

I just contacted Victoria to make sure she knew how I felt about this
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dale-Winters/1058535718 Dale Winters

That lady was just wrong. From what I remember, two commandments trump all others, don’t have any other gods before me, and love thy neighbor as thy self. That does not mean only do this if you agree with someones lifestyle or not, that is not for you to decide. And another thing, this is why I cannot stand it when people think they have rights to discriminate! And when this economy is trying as it is now, you are going to turn down money? You just killed your own business you dumb-ass!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000035047164 Gus Anderson

Childress wouldn’t DARE turn away wedding cake orders from an Latina-American woman / European-American man couple or an African-American woman / Asian-American man couple or a 45 year old woman / 25 year old man couple.

Jesus gave us one rule……..*love thy neighbor*.
Childress……where’s the love?
Anonymous

I am pleased to see all the logical and polite accommodations people want to make for this woman’s bigotry; it shows a mature attitude towards rights & the responsibilities we all have as member of society to respect each other’s differences, the way we want them to respect ours. But I do have to ask, what if this couple were black? Or Jewish? (& don’t tell me that Xianity doesn’t discriminate against those 2 groups, unless you want a dozen posts with proof to the contrary….)

You may want to be as accommodating as possible because it’s the mature way to be, but prejudice needs to be fought – and not just with education, because the facts have been out there for years, and bigots like this baker have blinded themselves to it. Certainly avoid bigots when it comes to personal services – but prosecute them anyway!!!
Jessica Rose

how is this different from Religious based racism? My god tells me you are inferior to me, so i can choose to not serve you. how will things change if this behavior is allowed to continue?
Laurie Edwards

Ignore this cretin, ladies. Enjoy your love and your wedding–with a bigger, nicer cake than that jerk would’ve come up with….and don’t forget to tell all your friends and relatives what a loser he is and how they shouldn’t go to him for THEIR cakes either.

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