Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

‘Scary’: Christian Baker Who Refused Gay Wedding Cake Faced Hate Mail, Death Threats, Chaos on Path to Legal Victory

Photo: Vimeo/Thomas Moore Society
Share Tweet
By Billy Hallowell
Editor

October 27, 2022

A California baker is elated over her religious freedom win after a judge ruled she was within her rights to deny baking a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Listen to CBN News’ morning podcast, Quick Start 👇

​​Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California, made headlines this week, when she won her battle against the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment, which sued Miller over what it saw as intentional discrimination.

The state unsuccessfully argued the baker had violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, a California law protecting people from discrimination based on age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and other factors at businesses.

Charles LiMandri, special counsel at the Thomas More Society, the law firm representing Miller, told CBN’s Faithwire his client isn’t biased against gay individuals — something the court ultimately concluded.

“She’s happy to serve gay customers,” LiMandri said. “She has a lot of happy gay customers. And she’s also had gay employees, so she certainly doesn’t discriminate against gay people.”

He continued, “The judge basically found there was no discrimination that was unlawful under the Unruh Act, because there was no invidious motivation or animus towards gay people.”

Miller also shared how the five-year legal battle began, its impact, and her message for the couple at the center of it all.

“This case began five years ago, and that’s when a couple came into the bakery,” she said. “It was two men and two women and another older woman.”

Once it became clear she was being asked to make a cake for a same-sex couple, she said she needed to pause, pray, and reflect.

“That’s when I had to say … ‘Let me go get some more paperwork.’ I went to the side, I prayed very hard, and I asked the Lord to give me wisdom,” Miller said. “And I just started visiting with them, and I told them I couldn’t do their cake … I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hurt my Lord and Savior. I can’t participate in this union because … God says it’s a sacrament between a man and a woman.'”

These faith-based sentiments might not have shocked many who frequented the bakery, as Christian music often plays inside, with books and Bibles on display.

Miller said she referred the couple to another person whom she described as “an amazing decorator” — a fellow baker who is part of the LGBTQ community and is married to another woman. In the past, this option worked well for customers in similar situations.

But this time was different.

“I was shocked, and I know they were upset, but I did not think that it would go this far,” Miller said. “I did not realize that, within two hours, we would be bombarded by hate mail, death threats, rape threats. The media was storming into our bakery.”

As news spread and the media descended on the bakery, Miller said the staff had to field “horrible phone calls” while also locking the doors to keep journalists out.

She even had to briefly shut down Tastries Bakery while chaos ensued. The entirety of the ordeal left Miller feeling “vulnerable.”

“It was a little bit scary, because we weren’t quite sure what to do,” she said, noting how she finally felt comfortable after connecting with the Thomas More Society, a law firm that takes on pro-life and religious-freedom cases.

Miller said the attorneys there understood why she took such a firm position on the matter.

“When we were scared and vulnerable and not knowing what to do, they just came alongside us and said, ‘It’s OK. We got you.'”

Miller admitted it has been a financial rollercoaster. But despite the struggles, negative pushback, and threatening calls, Miller said many have encouraged the bakery and have placed orders to support her. She even has some individuals in the LGBTQ community who have been kind and caring toward her.

“It is about our faith and it is not about discrimination,” she said.

Miller also offered a compassionate response when asked what she’d say to the couple at the center of the dispute if given a chance.

“I would say that I’m very sorry that all this has happened. I hope that they understand that I was not trying to hurt them,” she said. “I was just trying to live by my beliefs and my love for my Lord.”

LiMandri said the ruling, which could still be appealed, strikes the right constitutional balance.

“Everybody knows what a wedding cake stands for, and if you have to use your artistic abilities either to write a poem, or paint a picture — in this case, design [and] create a beautiful wedding cake — that’s a form of expressive speech,” he said. “And that’s also protected under the First Amendment.”

Watch the full interview here.

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.*** 

Latest

  • Faith

    Digital Babylon: Biblical Wisdom from Daniel for Today’s Social Media Age

  • Faith

    Christian Summer Camp Fights Back Amid Claims Government Could Shut It Down Over Gender Law

  • Faith

    Pastor Breaks Down Why Christians Simply Can’t Ignore Angels and Demons: ‘We Have Emasculated the Gospel’

  • Life

    Everything We Know About Suspect in Alleged Terror Attack on California Fertility Center

  • News

    Will Christianity Be Destroyed in Syria? A Warning After Trump’s Pledge


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • Digital Babylon: Biblical Wisdom from Daniel for Today’s Social Media Age
  • Christian Summer Camp Fights Back Amid Claims Government Could Shut It Down Over Gender Law
  • Pastor Breaks Down Why Christians Simply Can’t Ignore Angels and Demons: ‘We Have Emasculated the Gospel’
  • Everything We Know About Suspect in Alleged Terror Attack on California Fertility Center
  • Will Christianity Be Destroyed in Syria? A Warning After Trump’s Pledge

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • Culture
  • culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.