A Colorado baker is facing legal action for refusing a customer's request to put a gay slur on a Bible-shaped cake, according to KDVR.
The customer, reportedly named Bill Jack, of Castle Rock, Colo., filed a religious discrimination complaint with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DOVA) against Denver-based Azucar Bakery after the owner, Marjorie Silva, refused to bake his cake.
"The customer wanted us to draw two males holding hands with a big 'X' on them," Silva wrote in a letter recounting the 2014 incident. "We never refuse service. But we did feel it was not right for us to present hateful words or images about human beings."
Silva says the "very pushy, disruptive" man walked into her shop in March 2014 and asked for the anti-gay cake, according to KDVR.
"I just want to make cake for happy people," Silva told the station. "I'm Christian. I support Christians. We make a lot of Christian cakes. But this just wasn't right."
Silva tried compromising with the customer, she said, offering to let him write whatever he wanted on the cake with one of her baking tools. The customer said no and told Silva she "needed to talk to an attorney about this," KDVR reported.
Silva said the man left and came back two more times, asking if she consulted an attorney. At one point she asked her brother to come and tell the man not to come back.
That was the last Silva heard of the man, until she received a call from DOVA notifying her about the complaint.
DOVA is expected to make a decision on the case within 30 days. Attempts to reach the department for comment were unsuccessful, the station reported.
Jack, who has not returned media requests for comment, told KUSA-TV in a statement, "I believe I was discriminated against by the bakery based on my creed." He said he will wait until the process is over to comment further.
The incident occurred almost two years after another Colorado baker denied service, bit that time the case involved a gay couple that wanted a cake for their Massachusetts wedding. A judge ruled in December 2013 that Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, discriminated against the couple for refusing to bake their wedding cake. The ruling was upheld by Colorado's Civil Rights Commission last May.
A visit to Azuca Bakery on Monday saw customers who were happy to show solidarity with Silva for taking a stand against spreading hate.
"(Silva) just didn't want to put hate out there," Jessica Mason, who was getting a cake with her same-sex partner for their wedding anniversary, told KDVR. "Everybody's free to have their own beliefs, but there's no reason to spread hate. And I think the message (Azucar Bakery) has clearly sent here is love."
