Readers React: The difference between forcing a bakery to sell a cake to a same-sex couple, and forcing it to make one

To the editor: The article frames Colorado bakery Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. as seeking permission to discriminate. (“Corporations keep claiming ‘We the People’ rights. And they’re winning,” Opinion, March 2)

I agree it would be discrimination if it was a cake that had already been made. However, the baker is being asked to create the cake, and it is a cake to be used in a ceremony that violates his religious beliefs.

Would a Jewish baker be required to create a cake for a Nazi event? Would a black baker be required to create a cake for the Ku Klux Klan? Is an artist required to paint a portrait of someone he or she does not like?

Surely there are other bakers who would accommodate the couple’s request, and insisting that this particular baker do it appears to be a spiteful act.

Don Tonty, Los Angeles

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To the editor: A business open to the public means open to everyone. An unfortunate consequence of judging and categorizing people based on what they look like and who they love, and then refusing to serve them based on a belief system, is that you may very well be inadvertently serving someone whose less obvious behavior you would abhor if you knew about it.

I wonder how many wedding cakes Masterpiece Cakeshop has baked for pornographers, domestic abusers and others.

Years ago I wrote down a quote (hopefully correctly) that I think captures the essence of Christianity: that God wants people to engage in creative endeavors to bring Him into the Earth, and that the real purpose of living is to seek a true relationship with God through interactions with other people.

It not only feels better when we leave the judging to God, it also takes a great weight off our shoulders.

Jan MacMichael, South Pasadena

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To the editor: I have a feeling I know how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on this given how the winds have been blowing.

That said, its seems like businesses that choose to cater to any and all types of couples should post rainbows in their shop windows to let customers know they are open and supportive. What newlyweds want to buy a wedding cake from a baker who wishes them ill?

Laurie S. Adami, Los Angeles

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