’Ace of Cakes’ Star Offers to Bake Free Wedding Cake for Lesbian Couple
This is a sweet ending to a bitter story.
The star chef of Food Network's "Ace of Cakes" Duff Goldman announced this week that he would make a lesbian couple their wedding cake and deliver it for free, US Magazine reports. Goldman's offer comes days after the women made headlines because Aaron Klein, the owner of Sweet Cakes Bakery in Oregon, refused to sell the couple a wedding cake because it was for their wedding.
Klein may face legal action for denying the women the dessert, however. One of the women filed a complaint with the state and argued that the baker broke Oregon's anti-discrimination laws. Still, Klein doesn't deny refusing to sell the women the cake and even admitted that he's denied to bake cakes for other same-sex couples in the past.
"I apologized for wasting their time and said we don't do same-sex marriages," Klein said. "I honestly did not mean to hurt anybody, didn't mean to make anybody upset, [it's] just something I believe in very strongly."
Kline even said he would rather shut down his business than sell desserts to gay couples and added that his religious beliefs were more important than state law.
"If I have to be, I guess, penalized for my beliefs, then I guess, well, that'll be what it is," he said. "My First Amendment rights allow me to practice my religion as I see it." When speaking to NBC he said: "I believe that marriage is a religious institution ordained by God. A man should leave his mother and father and cling to his wife...that to me is the beginning of marriage."
But when Goldman, who is based in Baltimore, read the story on Huffington Post he took to Twitter on Feb. 4 and wrote that he'll "make that cake for free."
"I saw this story and I was like, 'Wait -- I can do something, there's injustice involving a cake!'" Goldman, who now owns Charm City Cakes, told HuffPost. He also told the publication that his bakery has been making cakes for same-sex couples for some time and added, "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."
According to Salon via the Examiner, Klein, who owns the bakery with his wife Melissa, allegedly posted a bizarre racist and sexist message on their bakery's Facebook account. Although the post has since been deleted, a screenshot of the status circulated around social media websites.
"Fuck the Niggers, Spics, whores, sodimites, fat bitches, ugly cunts, hypocritical hoes and overweight hippos on our feed," the alleged post apparently read. "We try so hard to bake cakes and all you ungrateful bullies hate on me and my beautiful family after these articles were written, shame on you! If you don't like our busineess then don't stop by! More cake for our fellow Christians!"
It is possible, however, that the post is a hoax and the status and image are fakes. Regardless, business for Sweet Cakes is booming, the Associated Press reports. In true Chick-fil-A form, customers who support Klein and his beliefs are swarming to his bakery. Klein told the media that he is sticking to his decision even though he faces a $50,000 fine.