Wedding Cake Baker Finds Fault With Mississippi's Religious Objections Law
The law allows individuals and groups to refuse services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, if it violates their religious beliefs. Renee Montagne talks to baker Mitchell Moore.
April 6, 20165:08 AM ET
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Protecting bakers from having to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples has been a common justification for religious freedom bills, and that's true in Mississippi. Yesterday, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill into law that allows religious organizations, individuals and businesses to refuse their services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people if they feel offering such services violates their religious beliefs. As it happens, many of Mississippi's business owners object to the new law, among them, bakery owner Mitchell Moore, who was born and raised in Mississippi and now lives in Jackson with his wife and young family. We reached him at one of his bakeries. Good morning.
MITCHELL MOORE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: As a baker, this bill would allow you to refuse service to people you don't want to bake for. Have you ever felt forced to bake for clients that you didn't want to serve?
MOORE: No, no that is not a problem. I am here to bake cakes and to sell those cakes. I'm not here to decide arbitrarily who deserves my cake and who doesn't. That's not what I do. That's not my job.
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/06/473201882/wedding-cake-baker-finds-fault-with-mississippis-religious-objections-law
4:18 audio and transcript at link.
