Bakery denies cake to lesbian couple a month before wedding — so another shop steps in

When Rebecca Riley, the owner of Peace, Love, & Cupcakes, learned an out-of-state couple were being denied their wedding cake because of their sexual orientation, she knew she needed to provide assistance.

Never mind that Riley did not know the couple, Desirie White and Jess Dowd. The engaged couple from Berwick, Pennsylvania, had just learned their local shop, O Taste and See Delight, broke their contract a month before their wedding.

“My refusal to make your cake is based on my fidelity to the God of Scripture, and my religious beliefs are combined with my business practices,” the shop’s owner said in an email to White, which she shared on Facebook.

Riley’s bakery is nearly three hours away in Syracuse, New York, but she immediately went into action. Even before making contact with White and Dowd, Riley agreed to make and deliver their cake for free.

That act of kindness trickled out into the community, and within a span of hours, other businesses were helping as well.

“I literally gave this no thought,” Riley said in a Facebook post on her shop’s page. “I read the post, I got angry, and knew I had to channel that anger into something beautiful. I looked at where they were, checked the GPS and got to work trying to reach them.”

How did the couple react?

White said in her Aug. 9 post she was “extremely upset” over O Taste and See Delight’s decision to nullify their contract. It was especially shocking to the couple considering they made it clear when they received their quote that they were a same-sex couple.

“She led us on took our payment, and had us sign a contract where she ignored me almost two days after payment received and then voided our contract because we are lesbians and then used her religion as an excuse for her discrimination,” White said.

“We are two women who happen to share a magical love and instead of allowing the space to show our love and celebrate it, that baker tried to shun us for it and put us in a position that made getting another cake for our special day difficult,” Dowd added in a Facebook comment.

It was just a day later when Riley stepped up to provide the couple their wedding cake.

Peace, Love, & Cupcakes has an “LGBTQ+ friendly” sticker on its window, and Riley made it clear “there’s a reason” for that sign.

White said the offer was “so unreal,” and she and her fiancee could not wrap their hands around it. She thanked Riley “from the bottom of our gay hearts.”

“I don’t have the words to show my appreciation,” Dowd added. “I’m so blessed to be surrounded by people who love me and have never met me. Our community is so strong and this is the proof. The proof is in the pudding or in our case, the cake.”

O Taste and See Delight has not publicly commented on the situation.

Peace, Love, & Cupcakes gets flooded with business

Since offering to help White and Dowd, Riley said her business has been met with a flurry of customers. By Wednesday morning, the shop had orders for 35 dozen chocolate chip cookies.

The store was sold out of its baked goods by 12:50 p.m.

“Thank you for all of the love and beautiful words but please know, this is about so much more than us,” Riley said on the shop’s Facebook page on Thursday, Aug. 11. “This is about the incredible community surrounding us and how they chose to step up just as quickly as I did, no questions asked. That’s the real feel good story here.”

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