Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece
Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, would rather close his business than
sell a wedding cake to a gay couple, but he insists it's nothing
personal.
Phillips refused to consider baking a
cake for Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, who are set to marry in
Provincetown, Massachusetts and are planning a reception in Denver.
Phillips told CBS affiliate KCNC-TV
that he would rather shutter his shop than support gay marriage.
“If it came to that point, we would
close down the bakery before we would compromise our beliefs, so that
may be what it comes to. We'll see.”
But the cake shop owner went on to say
that it's nothing personal: “If gays come in and want to order
birthday cakes or any cakes for any occasion, graduations, or
whatever, I have no prejudice against that whatsoever. It's just the
wedding cake – not the people, not their lifestyle.”
Speaking to Denver
Westword, Mullins, 28, said: “It was the most awkward,
surreal, very brief encounter. We got up to leave, and to be totally
honest, I said, 'Fuck you and your homophobic cake shop.' And I may
or may not have flipped him off.”
(Related: Victoria
Childress faces boycott for refusing wedding cake to lesbian couple.)