Baker Investigated After Refusing Anti-Gay Cake

When a customer strolled into Denver's Azucar Bakery looking for Bible-shaped cakes, owner Marjorie Silva told him no problem. When Bill Jack pulled out a piece of paper with the message he wanted written on said cakes, and Silva saw "God hates gays," a drawing of two men with a big X over them, and other not-terribly-gay-friendly passages Jack said have biblical origin, Silva says she told him "no way. We're not doing this. This is just very discriminatory and hateful." She tells USA Today that she offered to make the cakes and she'd give him the frosting to write his own messages.

That idea didn't fly with Jack, who filed a complaint with Colorado's Department of Regulatory Agencies, which is investigating Silva for religious discrimination. He tells 9News: "I believe I was discriminated against by the bakery based on my creed." Others aren't so sure. "This is not a situation where a business owner denied service to somebody," says a law professor. "She offered to accommodate him to the extent that she could. In fact, requiring her to write that message would infringe on her own free speech rights." (Another Denver bakery came under fire for refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.)