Indiana Pizzeria Faces Backlash After Saying It Won't Cater Gay Weddings
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork.com) -- There's no such thing as bad publicity right?
One Indiana pizzeria is going to find out.
The O'Connor family owns Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana.
According to CBS Cleveland, family members say they agree with Gov. Mike Pence that the bill does not encourage discrimination against gays and lesbians.
"We're not discriminating against anyone, that's just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything," O'Connor told WBND.
The family has owned the pizzeria for nine years and supports the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Kevin O'Connor said the negative backlash against Indiana is not fair.
"That lifestyle is something they choose. I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they choose?" O'Connor told the station.
The family did say that if a gay couple or a couple belonging to another religion came into Memories, they wouldn't be turned away, according to CBS Cleveland.
That wasn't enough for Yelp users who trolled the pizzeria, as well as one gay dating website.
Many Yelp users from around the globe gave the pizzeria 1 star and one even called it "The best gay bar in town."
"Wally G" said, "Five stars for the proprietors imagining that a gay wedding would ever require the catering services of a local pizza joint. Ha-ha. "
"Dave B" said, "I'll order my Double Stuffed crust pizza without the hate, elsewhere!"
"Bruce L" added, Terrible place, owners chose to be heterosexual. The biggest bigots are the most closeted. No gay man or woman is going to order pizza for a wedding. These people should be put out of business.
Others uploaded pictures of scantily clad men.
Also, if you do a Google search for Memories Pizza, the first result may surprise you: It's for Gaybearfinder.com, a site where men can search for and find other "bears," -- slang for hairy, muscular men.
The Yelp backlash comes a day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo has banned all nonessential, state-funded travel
to Indiana after the state adopted a religious freedom law that critics say opens the door to discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy issued a similar ban on Monday.
