Houma couple says bakery refused same-sex wedding service

[Burt_Macklin]

HOUMA, La. - A Houma couple is claiming that a popular local bakery refused to bake them a wedding cake earlier this week on the grounds of their same-sex relationship.

Sarah Matherne, who is in the process of planning her wedding to long-time girlfriend Jenita Billiot, said she called Caro’s Cakes and Catering Wednesday to set an appointment to discuss cake options. However, when the store employee learned that the cake would be for two brides, Matherne said that the employee declined the request for an appointment in a matter-of-fact tone.

Later that day, Matherne said she decided to post about the encounter on her Facebook:

“Caro’s Cakes and Catering In Houma just refused to even sit down and discuss a cake for a wedding between two females!,” she wrote. The post sparked an uproar among the couple’s family and friends and spread like wildfire on social media.

wwltv.com/story/news/local/lafourche-terrebonne/2015/08/03/same-sex-cake-houma/31058239/

The bishop of Houma-Thibodaux agreed to answer questions regarding catholics participating in same-sex marriages.

THE TIMES: “When placed in the situation, how does a person who is a Catholic make a moral decision in conscience about whether or not to attend or supply services, such as a cake or flowers, for a same-sex wedding?”
BISHOP SHELTON FABRE: “The Catholic Church considers same-sex marriage to be something that harms the common good of society. Since one should always only seek to act in accord with what is best for the common good, and while always respecting the human dignity of all persons, one should not attend or provide services for a same-sex wedding. The Church also believes that a person making such decisions should follow his or her own ‘properly informed conscience,’ and specifically with regard to providing services should have the religious freedom to act in conscience regarding such matters. A properly informed conscience first seeks (name removed by moderator)ut from competent Church authority regarding the fullness of official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on the matter in question. With information and understanding regarding official Church teaching on the matter, one then considers through prayer, reflection, and encouraged discussion with a priest or other competent Church authority, other aspects that may be involved in the issue. After considering all factors from the perspective of Church teaching, one then from a ‘properly informed conscience’ makes a moral decision on how to act with regard to the issues.”

houmatimes.com/news/article_2ab6ba4e-3801-11e5-a3bf-87a9dd70ebc7.html

Lucky for Mr Caro Louisiana does not have any law preventing discrimination based on sexual preference. Catholics need to see how important it is to oppose anti-discrimination laws that would attempt to force participation in same-sex marriages.

 

[Bonnie]

Baking a cake is not participating in a same-sex wedding. I don’t get it - refusing a service that is offered to everyone else is like shunning. It separates people. How can we witness Christ to people if we turn them away and refuse to have anything to do with them?

The bakers can’t know what other cakes & baked goods they are selling are for. Is a cake with the inscription “Happy Anniversary” for a homosexual couple? Perhaps it is for a heterosexual but unmarried couple. What about a cake that says “Happy Birthday?” It might be for someone who is homosexual. Or a Pagan. Do the bakers quiz everyone about the purpose of their baked goods? If not, they are being discriminatory.

 

[JurisPrudens]

Baking a cake is not participating in a same-sex wedding. I don’t get it - refusing a service that is offered to everyone else is like shunning. It separates people. How can we witness Christ to people if we turn them away and refuse to have anything to do with them?

The bakers can’t know what other cakes & baked goods they are selling are for. Is a cake with the inscription “Happy Anniversary” for a homosexual couple? Perhaps it is for a heterosexual but unmarried couple. What about a cake that says “Happy Birthday?” It might be for someone who is homosexual. Or a Pagan. Do the bakers quiz everyone about the purpose of their baked goods? If not, they are being discriminatory.

“Shunning”, as You call it, is a way of witnessing Christ to those people. By reminding them of truth.

Your examples are absolutely inappropriate. Wishing a happy birthday to someone who happens to be gay is one thing. It is irrelevant to morality of that person. Wishing a “Happy Wedding” to someone who is not going through wedding, but something objectively wrong, means lying and participating in that wrong.

 

[Bonnie]

Your examples are absolutely inappropriate.

Seems to be in the same ballpark to me. But we all have different ways of seeing things.

 

[EmeraldOak]

The lesbian couple are standing in their own truth and following their consciences. The store owner has a right to do the same. Fortunately where he lives this is a legal right. I applaud Mr. Caro for not bowing to the political correctness of our time. And I’m encouraged to see the bishop backing him up.

 

[phil19034]

Baking a cake is not participating in a same-sex wedding. I don’t get it - refusing a service that is offered to everyone else is like shunning. It separates people. How can we witness Christ to people if we turn them away and refuse to have anything to do with them?

The bakers can’t know what other cakes & baked goods they are selling are for. Is a cake with the inscription “Happy Anniversary” for a homosexual couple? Perhaps it is for a heterosexual but unmarried couple. What about a cake that says “Happy Birthday?” It might be for someone who is homosexual. Or a Pagan. Do the bakers quiz everyone about the purpose of their baked goods? If not, they are being discriminatory.

It’s not the cake. It’s what the cake represents. Giving a gay person a birthday cake is no different than giving a straight person a cake. The birthday cake celebrates their birth and their life. Celebrating life is good, all life is precious and worth celebrating and protecting; even the most evil people.

A wedding cake celebrates Matrimony, which is a Sacrament. A wedding cake is a kin to a First Communion cake, a Confirmation cake, or an Ordination cake. We are celebrating the a “milestone” sacrament.

A “gay wedding cake” is a celebration of sin. It’s a kin to an “adultery cake,” or a “fornication cake” or an “incest cake” a “polygamy wedding cake” — all of which are preposterous.

Finally - I’m SICK of these people not respecting our beliefs. There are PLENTY of bakers who will bake a gay wedding cake. Why not simply hire another baker? Why destroy the lives of the baker and his/her family?

They are not refusing out of hate, they are refusing out of conscious issues.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

America: where the government can destroy you if you refuse to bake a cake for a same-sex couple on religious grounds, but if you sell body parts from an aborted child - or arrange a custom abortion so that the “right parts” can be harvested – why, the government will PAY you for that!

 

[didymus]

Do they refuse to bake cakes for divorced people who are getting remarried?

 

[Cider]

Seems to be in the same ballpark to me. But we all have different ways of seeing things.

It’s not up for personal opinion, the Church has spoken and as a Catholic the appropriate response is to educated oneself to bring their view in alignment with the Church.

 

[Bonnie]

It’s not up for personal opinion, the Church has spoken and as a Catholic the appropriate response is to educated oneself to bring their view in alignment with the Church.

The Church has said Catholic (or Christian) bakers shouldn’t make cakes for gay weddings? Where?

 

[CatholicHockey7]

Do they refuse to bake cakes for divorced people who are getting remarried?

I don’t know if the bakers are Catholic or not, but even if they are your question doesn’t go far enough.

If they’re not, then there is no issue. Most other Christian faiths allow divorce and remarriage without an annulment.

If they are, then the question should be phrased, “do they refuse to bake cakes for divorced people getting remarried without first getting an annulment?”

 

[Allegra]

Baking a cake is not participating in a same-sex wedding. I don’t get it - refusing a service that is offered to everyone else is like shunning. It separates people. How can we witness Christ to people if we turn them away and refuse to have anything to do with them?

The bakers can’t know what other cakes & baked goods they are selling are for. Is a cake with the inscription “Happy Anniversary” for a homosexual couple? Perhaps it is for a heterosexual but unmarried couple. What about a cake that says “Happy Birthday?” It might be for someone who is homosexual. Or a Pagan. Do the bakers quiz everyone about the purpose of their baked goods? If not, they are being discriminatory.

When I was married, the cake baker brought the cake to the reception, assembled it, then stuck around to disassemble and cut it properly. This isn’t uncommon as wedding cakes can be very elaborate.

 

[kozlosap]

It’s not the cake. It’s what the cake represents. Giving a gay person a birthday cake is no different than giving a straight person a cake. The birthday cake celebrates their birth and their life. Celebrating life is good, all life is precious and worth celebrating and protecting; even the most evil people.

A wedding cake celebrates Matrimony, which is a Sacrament. A wedding cake is a kin to a First Communion cake, a Confirmation cake, or an Ordination cake. We are celebrating the a “milestone” sacrament.

A “gay wedding cake” is a celebration of sin. It’s a kin to an “adultery cake,” or a “fornication cake” or an “incest cake” a “polygamy wedding cake” — all of which are preposterous.

Finally - I’m SICK of these people not respecting our beliefs. There are PLENTY of bakers who will bake a gay wedding cake. Why not simply hire another baker? Why destroy the lives of the baker and his/her family?

They are not refusing out of hate, they are refusing out of conscious issues.

“those people”?

 

[MarcoPolo]

What about a cake that says “Happy Birthday?” It might be for someone who is homosexual.

Let me explain why this analogy is not the same. In fact, we saw exactly this in the case of florist Barronelle Stutzman. She served a man who she knew was homosexual for some 10 years. But when he asked her to provide flowers for his gay “wedding,” she would not do so. A birthday is not considered an offensive or impostorous ceremony as is the gay “wedding.” The ceremony is the key factor in these cases. In fact, theoretically, if a heterosexual person came to the baker or florist and asked them to provide services for a homosexual “wedding,” the result would be the same––in other words, the sexual orientation of the customer is irrelevant. It’s the ceremony with which these business owners choose not to associate on religious or moral grounds. And they should have that right.

 

[Lou2U]

I agree with Bonnie.

It’s not the cake. It’s what the cake represents. Giving a gay person a birthday cake is no different than giving a straight person a cake. The birthday cake celebrates their birth and their life. Celebrating life is good, all life is precious and worth celebrating and protecting; even the most evil people.

A wedding cake celebrates Matrimony, which is a Sacrament. A wedding cake is a kin to a First Communion cake, a Confirmation cake, or an Ordination cake. We are celebrating the a “milestone” sacrament.

A “gay wedding cake” is a celebration of sin. It’s a kin to an “adultery cake,” or a “fornication cake” or an “incest cake” a “polygamy wedding cake” — all of which are preposterous.

But this is what I don’t understand. How does a baker know that a heterosexual couple ordering an anniversary cake are or aren’t married? How does the baker judge whether they are or not?

Finally - I’m SICK of these people not respecting our beliefs. There are PLENTY of bakers who will bake a gay wedding cake. Why not simply hire another baker? Why destroy the lives of the baker and his/her family?

They are not refusing out of hate, they are refusing out of conscious issues.

It isn’t the homosexual couple’s fault that they asked for a cake without knowing the baker’s religious views. From the couple’s point of view, they were discriminated against. From the couple’s point of view, the baker didn’t respect their own belief about two people of the same sex getting married, and they complained about this. It’s easy to say that the baker is not acting out of hate, but out of their own beliefs, but it’s a lot harder to explain and understand when emotions are involved.

I’m not posting the above to say “Catholics are wrong” (because that’s not true) and I certainly hope I haven’t broken any rules, but I just want to explain how the homosexual couple could have viewed things

Lou

 

[MarcoPolo]

Consider a graphic designer. Let’s say someone hires him to produce children’s birthday party invitations. The designer agrees. Now let’s say that same customer comes and asks him to design invitations for a raunchy stripper party. The designer refuses. Should he be forced to help promote a lewd party? I think not.

 

[MarcoPolo]

How does a baker know that a heterosexual couple ordering an anniversary cake are or aren’t married? How does the baker judge whether they are or not?

If a baker was tricked into making a cake for a fornicating couple, that would just mean the customer tricked them. Otherwise, if the baker knows the couple is not married and that they want a “Happy Fornication” cake, the baker should obviously be allowed to refuse to make the cake.

 

[Lou2U]

If a baker was tricked into making a cake for a fornicating couple, that would just mean the customer tricked them. Otherwise, if the baker knows the couple is not married and that they want a “Happy Fornication” cake, the baker should obviously be allowed to refuse to make the cake.

How can a baker be tricked into making a cake? Should two people have to say “We want an Anniversary cake, but we’ve been living together for the past two years and having regular sex, is that still okay?”

Lou

 

[exnihilo]

Baking a cake is not participating in a same-sex wedding. I don’t get it - refusing a service that is offered to everyone else is like shunning. It separates people. How can we witness Christ to people if we turn them away and refuse to have anything to do with them?

Actually the service is not offered to everyone else. The baker apparently doesn’t provide same sex wedding cakes to anyone.

As for the shunning it doesn’t seem to be that. They just won’t provide a service. But one reason we have the terrible culture we do is because there is not sense of shame. Shame is a very powerful motivator. It can be used too much but we have the opposite problem. We have a culture of no shame. Sadly despite all the well wishing such a culture will be completely debased. The idea that by having open arms and an empty mind we’ll convert the world has been discredited by actual experience.

The bakers can’t know what other cakes & baked goods they are selling are for. Is a cake with the inscription “Happy Anniversary” for a homosexual couple? Perhaps it is for a heterosexual but unmarried couple. What about a cake that says “Happy Birthday?” It might be for someone who is homosexual. Or a Pagan. Do the bakers quiz everyone about the purpose of their baked goods? If not, they are being discriminatory.

The bakers have a right to be discriminatory. I don’t mean a legal right, that has been taken away. I mean a fundamental human right to chose whom they will serve. Discriminatory is not a bad word. A sign of a good person is being discriminatory. Consider that saying someone has discriminating tastes is not an insult.

 

[DrTaffy]

Consider a graphic designer. Let’s say someone hires him to produce children’s birthday party invitations. The designer agrees. Now let’s say that same customer comes and asks him to design invitations for a raunchy stripper party. The designer refuses. Should he be forced to help promote a lewd party? I think not.

Strippers are not a protected minority in any legislation that I am aware of.

Homosexuals are, in many, and it will be eternally to the shame of Christianity that Christian sects were instrumental in preventing protection for homosexuals in so many legislations. In those where they are protected, it is because people like you and those more extreme than you, but who feel supported by you, abused their a priori right to discriminate them. Abuse it and you lose it.

I would not oppose a sane and sensible restricted law to, for example, allow a business to refuse to print a text message or image that they disagreed with, but a wide open general principle that anti discrimination laws simply do not apply to Christians is not reasonable.