Prejudice and Law Collide in Iowa's Big Cake Debate

Iowa was, surprisingly, the first state in the nation to legalize gay marriage and present equal rights to homosexual couples wanting to tie the knot. Iowa law also protects those couples from discrimination against businesses, charities, organizations or individuals to refuse service to someone based on their sexual orientation. That didn't stop Des Moines-based baker Victoria Childress of Victoria's Cake Cottage from refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.

Trina Vodraska and Janelle Sievers visited Childress' shop in anticipation of their June wedding, but were turned away when the business owner realized they were lesbians. Childress attests baking the cake would interfere with her religious convictions. Vodraska says the incident made her feel chastised and degraded.

In February, the Iowa House tabled a proposed bill called the Religious Conscience Protection Act that would allow a business owner to turn homosexuals away. As the law now stands, Childress has opened herself up to civil lawsuits and legal sanctions, though she swears what she did wasn't to discriminate against Vodraska and Sievers, but to protect her relationship with God. The law likely will not side with her. In 2007, the Iowa Civil Rights Act was amended to protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Vodraska and Sievers released a statement, in which they said, "We are grateful for the outpouring of support we have received and hope that by stepping forward we have prevented someone else from experiencing the same type of bigotry."

Bigotry is defined as a person being intolerant of other's opinions or choices based on one's own. Childress' actions support that definition.

Baking a cake would not have made her commit (what is, in her eyes) a sin. It punished a couple for doing something she felt wasn't right, unfortunately, their choice is protected under the eyes of the law. It's unclear at this time how the law will react, but the couple has received an overwhelming show of support. A boycott of Victoria's Cake Cottage has already started.