‘Cake Tasting Didn’t Go as Planned’: Yet Another Same-Sex Couple Refused by Wedding Cake Baker, Because Jesus

‘I Cannot With My Spiritual Conviction and Beliefs, Do Your Cake!’

A Tennessee same-sex couple is among the latest to experience discrimination cloaked in Christianity.

“Well cake tasting didn’t go quite as planned,” Brandi Ray wrote on Facebook, posting a screenshot of her text message with Susie’s Sweets bakery owner Susie Dennison.

“I really enjoyed our time together and I truly wish you the best but after realizing that your union will be of the same sex, I cannot with my spiritual conviction and beliefs, do your cake!” Dennison wrote, as Nashville’s News Channel 5 reports. “I want you to know in saying that, I do love you in The Lord! Had I known before you left, I would have said something then!”

Paul Dennison, Susie’s husband, told the local news outlet “that the business owners didn’t wish any ill will on Ray, but they feel that others could view the cake as an endorsement of same-sex marriage, which is something the business owners say they have strong religious convictions against.”

On Facebook Dennison posts photos of her cakes and invites “all of the ladies who have become engaged” to “setup a time for us to get together and talk about what you would like in taste and design for your cake.”

Tennessee has no protections against anti-LGBT discrimination at the state level.

Also last week, a same-sex couple in Denver say a videographer, citing his religious beliefs, refused to film their wedding. He also falsely claimed same-sex couples cannot produce “healthy families.”

On The Wedding Wire, Dennison writes that designing cakes has been “a blessing” for her.

“I had put my whole life into God, family and the church. Then, the empty nest was soon to be! I asked the Lord,’what am I to do’? The answer came to me that day! I have always love cooking. I started Susie’s Sweets, the rest is history,” she adds. “I do every cake as though I am doing it unto the Lord! This is their special day and should be treated with expertise and genuine care.”

The ACLU of Tennessee in a statement says, “Businesses open to the public can make decisions about what kinds of products or services they will provide – but they can’t pick and choose who they will serve.”