A gay man who bakes wedding cakes for a living has said he is ‘disgusted’ by gay and lesbian people who have been ‘bullying’ Christian business owners into catering for their same-sex ceremonies.
Jesse Bartholomew posted a video to YouTube in which he denounced those who “force” people to do something with which they fundamentally disagree.
His emotive remarks come after a spate of court cases where Christians have been punished for their commitment to biblical marriage.
Disgusted
Mr Bartholomew begins the video, which has now had over 80,000 views, saying: “I cannot tell you how disgusted I am with my fellow gay and lesbian community.
“That they would stoop so low as to force someone to bake a cake for them who simply doesn’t agree with them”.
He asks: “There’s no other bakers out there? It’s plain and simple, you are bullying someone”.
The baker concludes: “Shame on you.”
Court cases
The issue of private business owners being forced to support gay weddings has come to the fore in several US court cases in recent months.
Earlier in July, the owners of a bakery in Oregon were ordered to pay ’emotional damages’ of $135,000 to a lesbian couple after they declined to bake a cake for their gay wedding.
And in March, Barronelle Stutzman, a Christian florist, was given 60 days to pay $1,000 for refusing to provide flowers for a gay couple’s same-sex ceremony.
Ashers
In the UK, Ashers Baking Company is appealing a ruling, which said that the business broke the law by declining to decorate a cake with a pro-gay marriage campaign slogan.
The McArthur family, who own and run Ashers, said they could not fulfil the order because it conflicted with their Christian beliefs about marriage being between a man and a woman.
The Christian Institute’s Legal Defence Fund is supporting the family. Read more on Ashers.