Wedding cake refusal sparks furor

Sarah Matherne says she wasn’t looking for a fuss, just a cake for her upcoming wedding.

Duane Caro says he didn’t want to refuse her; that his religious tenets demanded he do just that.

But Caro’s refusal to make a cake for the wedding of Matherne to another woman, Jenita Billiot, because they are a same-sex couple, ignited a social media furor once Matherne related her experience to family.

“I realize it’s every company’s legal right whether or not to serve members of the gay community,” Matherne said in an online post. “I would just like to reach out and let other members of the gay community, who may use this company, know that they are nowhere near gay friendly.”

What the Bishop says: Houma-Thibodaux Bishop Shelton Fabre offers comments on church teachings regarding same-sex marriage Click here.

Caro demurs, and says that while he has gay friends and customers, asking him to be a part of their same-sex nuptials is more than his faith will allow.

“I am one single person doing what I feel is right by God,” said Caro, who is Roman Catholic. “Things are not going good in the world or our country and we are going toward darkness. I am not rejecting gay people, it’s not that we are rejecting the people themselves. We just don’t want to be a part of the marriage part, the celebration. The new ruling is that legally they can be married in this country but I cannot be a part of that with my Christian beliefs. I could use the money. But I feel this is the right thing to do.”

Matherne’s beneficence toward Caro – and his suggestion that it’s OK to say no to a potential customer because of his personal beliefs – are not shared by an ever-increasing number of people making their views known on the bakery’s online reviews and elsewhere.

“He would be committing to making a cake, he is not committing to a wedding, he is not participating in the service,” said Derek Penton-Robicheaux, executive director of the Louisiana Equality Foundation, a New Orleans-based gay advocacy organization. “I didn’t consider my wedding reception where the cake was consumed as part of the ceremony. His cakes are consumed at an after-party. Alongside of alcoholic beverages.”

Interviews with attorneys and advocates indicate that federal laws prohibiting discrimination in places of public accommodation – which would include bakeries – offer protection on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and disability. Sexual orientation and gender are not included in the mix.

Some states do have laws specifically barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender, although Louisiana is not among them. Were Caro’s bakery in Shreveport or New Orleans, he would have been barred from refusing Matherne by local ordinance.

Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said that this highlights the need for comprehensive nondiscrimination protections on the state and local level, because no federal laws apply.

The issue in Houma arose Wednesday when Matherne made a phone call to Caro’s, where a female employee took down information for an appointment to discuss a wedding cake.

“She said there was still enough time for me to get there to make the order,” Matherne said. “She did not ask my name, but asked what is the bride’s name and I said, ‘Sarah,’ and she asked about the groom and I said, ‘There will be two brides, and her name is Jenita,’ and that is when she said, ‘Oh no, we don’t do that.’”

“There was no reflection in her voice, she wasn’t ugly, she wasn’t angry, it was matter of fact,” continued Matherne, who was not that familiar with Caro’s cakes but was told by her fiancée that they are very good. “We were discussing the whole thing and she brought up that there was a statue of the Virgin Mary in front of their building, and that’s when we figured it was a religious thing.”

Controversy over merchants denying service to gay couples seeking to marry began building nationwide in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the landmark Obergefel v. Hodges decision, which affirmed marriage for all people regardless of gender mix as the law of the land.

A proposed law that would have shielded people making decisions on the basis of their religion for official action failed in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Advocates for same-sex couples said it was a license to discriminate.

Gov. Bobby Jindal countered with an executive order protecting any state employee who “acts in accordance with his religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman.”

While she is stung by Caro’s refusal, Matherne maintains she has no animosity. However, she opted to make the social media posts because she wanted to spare other couples the same sort of rejection by not calling Caro’s for their wedding cakes to begin with.

“Other people have their own beliefs, and I am sure they care about them a lot,” Matherne said. “I realize it is not a machine, it is not an assembly line, it is a bakery. That is why I am showing compassion. He is stating what he feels. I get it.”

But she also agrees with Esman and Penton-Robicheaux that in the future laws should be made to stop people from being able saying no.

“There needs to be something to keep people from discriminating against us, against anyone,” Matherne said.

Billiot said she also understands Caro’s refusal, but is not happy about it, and finds some of its logic to be flawed.

“Catholics believe divorce is a sin but if we were divorced two or three times they wouldn’t have asked anything about it,” she said. “Everyone should have the same rights as everyone else.”

Matherne added that while she is respectful of Caro’s beliefs, the experience is frustrating.

“If they are going to exercise what they say is a religious right to discriminate, they should put a sign on the door, put it in their advertising so that other people won’t go through this. The only people being interrogated as to who the cake is for or what it’s for is us. So you want an anniversary cake? Is it your first wedding? Have you been divorced? Let me check with the bishop.”

After the refusal, Caro did consult with a parish priest, but was still not entirely clear on church teaching.

Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Bishop Shelton Fabre did agree to answer questions about church teaching on he subject presented to him by The Times.

While Fabre made clear that church teaching does not provide approval for such nuptials, ultimate decisions by Catholics as to the support they may give to the couples are a matter of personal conscience.

“The Catholic Church considers same-sex marriage to be something that harms the common good of society,” Fabre said. “Since one should always only seek to act in accord with what is best for the common good, and while always respecting the human dignity of all persons, one should not attend or provide services for a same-sex wedding. The Church also believes that a person making such decisions should follow his or her own ‘properly informed conscience’, and specifically with regard to providing services should have the religious freedom to act in conscience regarding such matters.”

Matherne and Billiot say they have found a woman who wants no publicity to make their cake, and that the unpleasant taste of Caro’s refusal will in no way dampen their ceremony, their reception or their future life together.

“I love her, very much,” Matherne said of Billiot. “This is a woman who since we have been together sends me an anniversary card celebrating another month together each and every month. She calls me her dream girl. We are going to be together, become an old married couple and be happy.”

Read Bishop Fabre’s complete comments by CLICKING HERE.

(From left) Jenita Billiot and Sarah Matherne were denied a wedding cake by Houma baker Duane Caro because they are a same-sex couple.

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