When Candice Lowe went to Take the Cake Bakery to buy a birthday cake to surprise her wife, the newlyweds were shocked to find her order was cancelled. Lowe says to 13abc, “after [the owner] saw my Facebook page, she found out that I was in a same-sex marriage and she could not do my cake.”
The text from the Toledo bakery, which Lowe shared on Facebook, read:
“Candice, I’m sorry… I just realized your [sic] in a same sex relationship and we do not do cakes for same sex weddings or parties… I’m so sorry. I wasn’t aware of this exactly until I saw your page. Take care :)”
Amanda Lowe said the incident put a damper on their celebration, “She did all of their effort to get a cake and gets a text message and has to tell me her surprise, it kind of ruined our day.”
“It wasn’t a wedding cake, it was just a birthday cake,” Candice said. “A birthday cake has nothing to do with your sexual preference.” The couple married two weeks ago and have a son.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Several news sources have reached out to owner of Take the Cake with no response. Currently, their Yelp page is at 1 star with the majority of reviews criticizing the business for discriminating against LGBTQ customers.
“They should learn that they can’t just discriminate against someone’s sexual preferences, especially over something as simple as a cake,” Lowe said.
The incident echoes other cases of bakeries discriminating, including the Oregon bakery Sweet Cakes ordered to pay $135K in damages. While there are nondiscrimination protections in place in Toledo, the Lowes have not made a comment on whether or not they’ll be pressing charges.
