A same-sex couple film their exploits, getting Indiana’s famous anti-same-sex marriage pizzeria to cater their wedding.
It may seem like a distant memory, but for Chicago couple Robin Trevino and Jason Delgatto, it was an opportunity to prove a point.
After Mike Pence signed into law Indiana’s “religious freedom” law, the owners of a small town pizzeria became big names in the culture wars.
Memories Pizza owner Crystal O’Connor had told a local reporter that if a same-sex couple came into their shop asking them to cater their wedding, they would have to refuse, based on their religious beliefs. The O’Connors were happy Gov. Pence was going through with his discriminatory and anti-gay Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
That sparked nationwide outrage on the left, and nationwide support for the O’Connors on the right.
On Friday, husbands Robin Trevino and Jason Delgatto decided to test the O’Connors. The couple were married in 2008, before it was legal, then obtained a license in 2009. But having never had the time for a proper wedding, they decided now was a good time.
In the video below, Robin is seen driving from Chicago to Indiana, where he parks across the street from the now-famous Memories Pizza. He walks in, orders two pizzas to go, pays, and leaves.
(He forgoes dropping anything in the tip jar, considering the nation’s conservatives pumped $842,387 into the O’Connors’ wallets.)
“I know some of you will be upset that he handed the company any money at all,” Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, notes, “but I think there’s a better story here: No matter what the owners’ faith teaches them, gay customers are no different from any other ones, and their celebrations are no less meaningful. There’s no justification, faith-based or otherwise, for a business owner to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.”
Jon Green at AmericaBlog agrees it “was a bit of a stunt, especially since they didn’t tell Memories Pizza how the pizza was going to be used,” but he says, “that’s the point.”
“Memories Pizza is in the business of selling pizza. That’s it. As a place of public accommodation, they don’t get to ask how that pizza is going to be used once it leaves their store. They can’t reserve the right to refuse service to someone just because gay stuff might be involved.”
Watch:
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Image: Screenshot via GayCo Productions/YouTube
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