Colo. bakery refuses cake for gay couple

DENVER, Colo. (WHDH) -- The owner of a Colorado bakery is facing critics after he denied the sale of a wedding cake to a gay couple.

Protestors have set up outside his store and some are calling for a boycott of the business.

Dave Mullin and Charlie Craig say they dated for nearly two years before getting engaged. They went into the Masterpiece Cake Shop thinking they would spend a full day trying cakes for their ceremony. Instead, the meeting lasted a few seconds.

"My first comment was, 'We're getting married.' And he just shut that down immediately," said Craig.

Mullin and Craig were stunned. They went online and posted their experience on Facebook. The response has been huge.

"It's just a cake. We've also had supporters say, 'We don't support gay marriage but not selling a cake to a gay couple is wrong," Mullin said.

But it's more than a cake to Jack Phillips, the store's owner.

Phillips says he takes every cake personally, and won't make a cake for an event he doesn't even believe should exist.

"If it came to that point, we would close down the bakery before we would compromise our beliefs so that may be what it comes to... we'll see,” said Phillips.

“Discrimination is something that’s not allowed and this community will not allow,” said a protester.

“Let them have their wedding cake,” said another protester.

Protesters are calling for the bakery to change its policy. In the spring Phillips turned away another gay couple. He has received over a thousand messages online demanding he change, but he says he won’t. Phillips says if the state won’t recognize gay marriage, neither will he.

“It’s just the wedding cake, not the people. Not their lifestyle,” said Phillips.

Mullin and Craig said they were ready to spend more than a thousand dollars on their cake. They say they feel their civil rights have been violated. The couple never thought their sexual orientation would be an issue to anyone outside their relationship.

“We haven’t felt the need to inform anyone, any vendor we’ve dealt with, any place we’ve gone that we’re gay beforehand. We’ve had nothing but support,” said Mullin.